


Heart In Hand

by AlyxSvoboda125



Series: The Industry [6]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Acting, Actors, Bisexuality, Established Relationship, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Secrets, Interviews, Major Illness, Multi, Past Relationship(s), Returning Home, Secret Relationship, Social Media
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-27 13:47:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 35,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6287032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlyxSvoboda125/pseuds/AlyxSvoboda125
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raleigh Beck has grown up in front of the cameras. But being an actor has never been so hard or so all-consuming. Juggling his family secrets, personal issues, and his own heartache, he's become a walking PR stunt, and he just can't run away from the responsibility he's taken onto his shoulders. When a phone call changes his life, Raleigh will be forced to confront his issues once and for all. This takes place seventeen years after the end of the last book, when Raleigh is twenty-two and decidedly not a child.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "Colors" by Halsey

**Author's Note:**

> Raleigh gets some unpleasant news and loses his shit.

**Interview with Raleigh Beck**

**Interviewer:** I’ve heard you were in a boyband once. You have to tell us: is that true?

**Raleigh:** Oh my God. Look at you, digging up ancient history. I mean, yes? I went to a performing arts high school and middle school. Doesn’t every kid want to be in a band for at least a minute? That’s the thing to do, isn’t it?

**Interviewer:** ( _laughs_ ) I guess it was. I remember mine: Annadale Anathema.

**Raleigh:** Dear God no! That’s not something to share proudly!

**Interviewer:** Were you, at least, any good?

**Raleigh:** I mean, we were a bunch of performing arts students, right? So everyone could sing and play their instruments and write music.

**Interviewer:** I hear _you’re_ a pretty good singer.

**Raleigh:** Did my parents tell you that? For God’s sake, I do one musical theater production and suddenly I’m Idina Menzel! I’m not that good. I got kicked out of my band, sadly.

**Interviewer:** Steal someone’s girlfriend?

**Raleigh:** Ha! No! I missed practice for _months_ because I was writing with Tinzy Ulrich and Israel. I don’t regret it. That movie was amazing.

**Interviewer:** I have seen it. About Alexander the Great, yes?

**Raleigh:** Yes. I have a passion for history. I blame my papa entirely. This is a man who handed me a book on Louis XIV’s sex life when I was nine and shooting at Versailles. Whatever, I guess, it taught me a lot about safe sex.

**Interviewer:** That’s a little young.

**Raleigh:** I didn’t say I was _having_ sex, Timothy! Get your mind out of the gutter. I was _nine_!

 

**Salem Petrov (@Salem_Daiki)**

@Raleigh_Beck don’t you think you’re a little old to be heckling my boyfriend into bolstering your Burberry fetish?

 

**Raleigh Beck (@Raleigh_Beck)**

@Salem_Daiki you misunderstand. @ArthurBailey and I are even exchanging. My Versace winter wear is headed your way.

 

**Arthur Bailey (@ArthurBailey)**

@Raleigh_Beck god bless maybe @Salem_Daiki will finally stop bitching about my spending too much on ‘material goods’

 

**Charles Beck (@CharlieBeck)**

@ArthurBailey that will never happen

 

**Raleigh Beck (@Raleigh_Beck)**

@ArthurBailey @Salem_Daiki @CharlieBeck it’s possible to spend too much on clothes? #disagree #immensely

 

**Group MMS: Raleigh, Aspen, Cherokee**

**Cherokee:** Papa’s mad at me.

**Raleigh:** Wyd?

**Cherokee:** Punched Ben Marlen in the face.

**Aspen:** She BROKE his nose

**Raleigh:** What’d he do?

**Cherokee:** Called me a sniveling two-faced crybaby with a bunch of fags for fathers

**Raleigh:** Should’ve broken his teeth too.

**Aspen:** Raaaaallllllleeeeeeiiiiiigggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

**Cherokee:** :D

**Raleigh:** I’m sorry. Was that too insensitive. Kid’s are goddamn sadistic.

 

To: raleighkylobeck@gmail.com

From: harrybentonsterling@sterlingandireland.co.uk

Subject: Kezi Tannenbaum

Raleigh,

Please dear God tell me it isn’t true.

Tell me you didn’t actually screw Kezi Tannenbaum.

Tell me please please please.

Get back to me ASAP

Harry

 

**Charlie Beck and Patrick Gallgher: Trouble in Paradise?**

It’s been almost seventeen years since the fairytale New York wedding between two of Hollywoods biggest heartthrobs, silver screen legend Charlie Beck and Irishborn action star Patrick Gallagher, but it seems their marriage has hit a snag of late. According to rumors, the couple have found it difficult to manage their family life and career with Beck (aged 40) working on location so often while Gallagher (44) primarily stays in New York to raise their daughters, Aspen (14) and Cherokee (12), while writing with best friend, Israel, and directing and producing breakout hit television series _Gods Among Men_. To compound on the issues, their famous heartthrob, A-list actor son, Raleigh Beck, is alleged to have knocked up his rumored girlfriend and internationally acclaimed popstar, Kezi Tannenbaum. Beck whose father, Samuel, is on his eighth high profile marriage denies allegations of cheating, but it certainly seems like the rumors may be true. Gallagher recently announced his intention to spend the summer with the couple’s daughters in Los Angeles where Beck will be shooting psychological thriller, _Incandescent_.

**Comments:**

**anonymous:** NOOOOO! Why?! What the fuck? I just…? What? No!

**lira_garroche:** How much you wanna bet Beck’s cheating. Apple doesn’t all far form the tree…

**candidlykatie:** I don’t believe that for a minute. Chatrick were literally spotted making out during intermission when they saw a broadway play together. They look like hell but give me a fucking break.

**anonymous:** People can cheat and still love their spouses

**ni_nic_nicola:** Can they actually though?

**Text message from Maryse**

**Maryse:** Mum says ought to have wrapped it before you sunk it in

**Raleigh:** Does your mum know you’re 16?

**Raleigh:** That seems kind of inappropriate

**Maryse:** I’m too young to be a second cousin!

**Raleigh:** Twerp. I’m not about to chat about this with you.

**Maryse:** I’m telling mum.

**Raleigh:** Yeah?

**Raleigh:** Tell Aunt Poppy she should stop oversharing with you.

**Raleigh:** I should not be getting these kinds of messages from a 16yr old

**Maryse:** :P

 

To: chazandstpatty@gmail.co.uk

From: maureen.lore@uclamedical.com

Subject: Aspen Update

You need to call me as soon as possible to discuss all the options available at this time.

Best,

Maureen Lorinta

 

**Raleigh Beck (@Raleigh_Beck)**

Back home in NYC <3 <3 <3 !!!!!

* * *

“You know what I  _know_ you don’t need? Any more sugar,” Raleigh Beck pointed out to godparent’s close friend and former football protégé, Cameron Cunningham, when he found the man downing a massive caramel Frappuccino draped in layers of sickly sweet caramel and cookie crumbs. He scrunched his nose and eyed the drink distastefully while Cameron narrowed his eyes on Raleigh without the slightest hint of apology.

“I’m sorry, I thought you said something worthwhile. Clearly I was wrong.” When Raleigh’s only response was to arch an eyebrow and brush passed him, marching down the hallway, Cameron snorted and jogged to catch up with him. “Can’t you let me drown my sorrows in caffeine and sugar?”

“Do you think I _should_?” Raleigh returned evenly, twisting his lengthy hair up into a messy bun that would undoubtedly cause his hair stylist to scowl at him malevolently. _Wouldn’t be the first time_.

A catch in Cameron’s breath and a low moan of pain had Raleigh pausing and whirling around in the narrow, busy hallway to frown down at the man with maintained a firm grip on his drink even as he bent over with a pained face, one hand clutching his knee in a white-knuckled grip. His breath was short, teeth clenched, and face red. Cameron was barely thirty-five and had only just retired from the EPL after signing at eighteen with Arsenal right out of the gate and gaining his name as one of the first openly gay players to be signed regardless. Physically, Cameron was still in shape enough to play except for his knee, which he’d decimated in a game against Chelsea that had never quite healed right.

After six weeks of sulking his career-ending injury with Bailey and Salem, he’d been banished to hang out with Raleigh in New York who’d weakly offered after a half hour rant from Bailey during their twice-weekly Skype sessions.

Cameron tried to pretend he wasn’t miserable.

It didn’t work.

Unlike Bailey who’d retired peacefully two years prior at a happy thirty-eight who’d moved onto coaching without any issue whatsoever, Cameron had shunned being around anything even remotely soccer-related. He’d pissed off Raleigh royally when he’d set one of Raleigh’s (signed and vintage) Arsenal FC posters on fire.

“You ought to know better. Your knee’s still not healed properly. Did you even go see that ortho I emailed you about?”

Cameron peered up at Raleigh through the curtain of his hair with a glare so furious that anyone else might have flinched. Raleigh only sighed exhaustedly and squeezed the bridge of his nose, pointing a long, painted finger at him in warning.

“I’m making you an appointment, and you’re going. I don’t really want to hear any arguments about it.”

“You’re such an entitled brat, you know that?”

“Oh,” Raleigh rolled his eyes, “poor you having someone with connections and next to unlimited funds trying to help you fix your _utterly destroyed knee joint_. God. Life must suck for a dirt poor unemployed plebian…oh wait.”

Cameron flipped him off as Valkyrie Jarsson, Anders and Scout’s daughter and Jazz Tiergarten’s apprentice, appeared behind them with her cheeks flushed and short platinum hair windblown. They both raised their eyebrows at her while she huffed and rested both her hands on her hips, eyes raking over the pair of them questioningly before settling on Raleigh with furrowed eyebrows that quickly shifted into a look of pure and unadulterated fury.

“What the fuck are you wearing?”

_Not what you put me in_.

Raleigh had nothing against Valkyrie as a stylist. She was good, he’d give her that, but he was better. His allowance of her to participate in styling him at been purely at Israel and Jazz’s long drawn out request and instance that she needed professional experience with someone notable before anyone would hire her. Of course, it had been his papa’s puppy dog eyes and his dad’s ‘I had a dream of being an actor in Hollywood if only someone gave me a shot speech’ that had him sighing and acquiescing. To this day, Raleigh was a sucker for making his parents happy.

And proud of him.

Even still, Raleigh looked down at his outfit even as Valkyrie scowled, reaching out and grabbing his wrist to two him towards his waiting interviewer. “Why must you _always_ do this, Raleigh? Why even hire me if you wouldn’t wear _anything_ I put on you?”

“It’s nothing personal,” Raleigh sighed while Cameron glanced between them and wisely kept his mouth shut, raising his eyebrows and drawing out his phone to text someone hurriedly as they all hurried towards the sound stage.

Valkyrie snorted, “‘Nothing personal.’ It feels pretty personal.”

“Don’t be so sensitive,” Raleigh looked sideways at her. “I almost never wear what I’m told to. Not unless I’m wowed.” Valkyrie gave him a dark look as they stepped up onto set, glancing sideways at the banquet table. “Ooh, is that bacon?”

He reached out for a strip when a pale, manicured hand slapped his away sharply. Raleigh drew back, clutching his hand to his chest with an exaggerated pout as he turned towards his second cousin and manager/publicist, Shannon Gallagher. Vaguely, Raleigh remembered Shannon being fun with her boisterous laughter, perpetual smile, and effervescent personality. Those memories had been dwarfed by the business-oriented woman in front of him: sharp, direct, and no-nonsense with prematurely graying dark hair twisted into a bun that sat at the base of her skull and wearing a gorgeous navy Derek Lam pantsuit. Everything about his dad’s cousin screamed severe unless she’d been downing pints during family functions. Then and all then was Raleigh brave enough to socialize with her.

Shannon narrowed her eyes on him and crossed her arms over her chest, gaze burning a hole through him, and he narrowly avoided an outward wince. Cameron sidled up to him, throwing an arm around Raleigh’s shoulders and leaning in to whisper, “I think she’s look at your hoodie, munchkin.”

Raleigh bristled at his childhood nickname even as he glanced down at himself, eyebrow quirking up at the sight of the three sizes too large Diesel galaxy sweatshirt he’d forgotten he’d pulled on over his sheer Alexander McQueen button-on. With a long-suffering sigh, he pulled it off and tossed it at Cameron’s head, smirking when it hit the former footballer in the face with a distinctive oomph.

Turning back to Shannon, he crooked an eyebrow, “Happy?”

“Are you planning on keeping you hair like that?”

He hadn’t been, but the slightest hint of irritation in her voice effectively decided he absolutely would. This interview, he figured, would be bad enough. He’d probably have kept the oversized sweatshirt on if Shannon’s look alone hadn’t practically pried it off his body.

Raleigh and Morgan Oliph had history. The kind of history that wasn’t conducive to interviews lacking hostility and innuendo.

He blamed Morgan entirely. They’d met their tail end of high school when she’d already become YouTube famous for her vlog/celeb bashing commentary on the entertainment industry. Raleigh had told her from the start that he had no intention of getting anywhere remotely serious with her because he knew exactly what – or more specifically _who_ – he wanted long-term. She’d gotten her feelings involved anyway, then had dumped an entire bowl of spiked punch at their prom on Raleigh’s head when he’d been photographed kissing the star of his dad’s new tv series, Phoebe Jane Moxsley, in what had _actually_ not been what it looked like.

Hopefully, they could manage professionalism, but Raleigh rather doubted it.

“Yes,” he told Shannon tonelessly before tossing her a bright smile that she promptly ignored with a pointed eye roll, an exaggerated scowl, and glance towards the sound stage when Morgan sat looking both comely and middle class like the audience she was trying to reach.

_What a bullshit lie._

Her heels were Prada, her sundress Balmain, and her one-carat Tiffany’s diamond engagement ring from a professional basketball player who had more money than 90% of the country. Raleigh could not stand poseurs of any kind, particularly not ones that still held a grudge against him for doing exactly what he’d told her he would four years ago.

“Are you ready, it’s almost…”

Raleigh tuned her out at the sound of his mobile phone, fishing it out of his pocket and holding it up to his ear. “Hey, Aspen, this is a spectacularly bad time.”

“What are you doing?” Shannon moaned while Cameron pulled out a Snickers bar and pulled it in half, part to Valkyrie as the leaned on a box between two of the show’s producers.

“Raleigh,” Aspen started, voice unsteady enough to catch his attention and hold it despite the people milling around him, the she-devil on stage introducing him, and his manager glaring at him while Valkyrie and Cameron watch the proceedings like a sideshow.

“What’s – ?”

Before he could finish the question, Aspen blurted, voice shaking, “It spread. It’s terminal.”

His whole world seemed to stop, sounds dying and scene around him blurring until he felt lost and desolate, empty and horrified. For the first time in a long time, Raleigh felt genuinely helpless, scared, and entirely unable to process the words coming out of his little sister’s mouth. _She’s fourteen…she can’t be…I mean she’s not really…I mean what the actual fuck?_ Fingers going numb and body trembling, Raleigh heard himself ask dumbly, “What?”

“I’m dying, Raleigh. I have terminal Leukemia with four months to live at most. It’s in my _lymph nodes_ , Raleigh. I’m…I’m…” Aspen sounded hysterical, and Raleigh could hear his parent’s voices in the background trying to calm her down.

The world snapped into focus when the mobile phone was yanked from his hand and brought to Shannon’s ear as she said, “He’ll have to call you back,” and ended the call with a single glare towards him. “What is wrong with you?”

Raleigh blinked, slowly shaking his head. Cameron frowned and reached out, narrowly managing to catch Raleigh when he took an unsteady step forward and nearly bowled over his own feet. He held onto Cameron tightly, eyes focused on nothing, unseeing, and lips unable to move. Everything seemed too bright, too loud, too much.

“Raleigh?!” Shannon shouted as quietly as she could, and he blinked again and turned to her. She frowned and bit her lip, eyebrows furrowed as she eyed him nervously. “Raleigh, what’s wrong?”

“I…where’s Aubrey?” Raleigh finally managed.

“Shooting on the High Line for Valentino,” Cameron told him without preamble, concern written all across his face. Raleigh nodded woodenly.

Shannon’s frown deepened, “Raleigh. Are you alright?”

“I…no.”

“Do you want…?” Shannon started.

“…Raleigh Beck!” Morgan called out, and the live studio audience cheered and clapped while he bit his bottom lip and shook his head, rolling back his shoulders and tucking a wayward strand of dark hair behind his ear.

_I can do this. This is what I do._

“You don’t have to – ”

“It’s fine. I’ll be fine.”

“It’s live.”

“It’s _fine,_ ” Raleigh insisted, brushing off their concern and shaking off his…everything to step out onto the stage and give Morgan a bright, heart-stopping smile that people had swooned for since before Raleigh thought it even remotely appropriate. _Nature of the job_. That was what Harry had told him grimly when he’d been called a heartthrob and alluded to as a sex symbol in the press at fourteen.

His papa had set the magazine on fire while his dad had sipped Scotch cross-legged beside a fire extinguisher on the kitchen island.

“Morgan, you look expensive,” he pointed out with a rakish smile.

Morgan’s eyes narrowed just slightly even as he smile widened. She tugged the hem of her dress and batted her eyes, “This old thing? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Balmain, right? Spring collection? Funny story, my friend’s interning with them.”

“Always glad to have such a connoisseur of fashion on the show,” Morgan cut him off swiftly with an evil glare while he forced a timid smile and a one-shouldered shrug, willing his absolute devastation to remain at bay. He absolutely couldn’t afford to give _Morgan_ an in to chew him up and spit him out, not after everything he’d done and sacrificed to make sure that nobody knew. They took their seats, and Raleigh breathed carefully, counting down from one hundred in his head and playing with the amber pendant dangling from his neck absently. Morgan crossed her legs, adjusted her dress, and focused on him. “So, the new _Star Wars_ movie is premiering in a matter of _months_. We’re all excited for this upcoming trilogy, aren’t we?” The crowd cheered, and Raleigh cocked his head and smiled. Morgan _hated_ Sci-Fi movies. _Hated. Them._ “Rumor has it, you’re character is Kylo Ren’s son. Any truth to that?”

Raleigh laughed, forcing it so hard that it felt almost painful. “If there _was_ , wouldn’t that be incredibly ironic.”

Morgan hummed thoughtfully, “Think you’re middle name had anything to do with you getting the part? No one expected you would. They don’t usually choose people so well known.”

“That’s not _entirely_ true,” Raleigh pointed out. “The prequels had Liam Neeson, Samuel L. Jackson, _and_ Ewan McGregor, but no, no one thought I would. Not even me, if I’m honest.”

“So why audition?”

Raleigh felt himself relax, slipping into his happy place. He could talk about acting _all day_. It was his passion, his escape, his Eden. “Because I love _Star Wars._ I’ve always loved the franchise. I was passionate about it, and I figured even if I didn’t get the part there’d be nothing lost in at least _trying_. I’m glad I did. It’s an absolute dream come true to be apart of it.”

Morgan nodded and shifted, “You’ve got a lot of big parts coming up: _Star Wars_ , a reboot of _Vampire Academy_ , and the remake of _City of Bones_. Although, I’ve got to say, you seem more Magnus Bane than Alec Lightwood with the fashion and, well, the glitter.” She smirked, pointing out his painted nails, glittering makeup, and flamboyant attire.

Eyeing her carefully, Raleigh smiled lazily, knowing enough about each other for her to recognize the warning glint lurking behind his eyes. “That maybe but it’s a little passed time we stopped whitewashing casts, don’t you think? Although, if I had a drop of Asian blood I certainly would have auditioned. I’ve read the books. Magnus Bane is, without doubt, my favorite character. The first film hardly did him justice, but I think the television show got it considerably more right. Righter?” Raleigh shrugged and waved a hand dismissively, grinning at the crowd when they laughed delightedly.

“Are you a free-wheeling bisexual like him too?” Morgan inquired with a faux joking smile.

Raleigh’s head turned to her slowly, a dangerous smile spreading across his lips as he pointed a finger at her. “Are you _allowed_ to ask that? If I remember correctly it _was_ my father who went on campaign against the media against prying into sexual private lives of celebrities. But, I could be wrong. I’m twenty-two, practically ancient, memory’s not what it once was, you know?”

The crowd laughed again while Morgan shrugged. “Just asking about your interest in Magnus Bane.”

“What’s not to be interested in? He’s a fashionable, powerful, confident character that can admit his faults and own who he is. I rather think that’s what we all aspire to, isn’t it?”

Morgan leaned back in her seat and studied him carefully while Raleigh returned her gaze with a bright, unerring smile that he knew would win him the crowd long before she had a chance to try and wreck that. She tapped her fingers against the arm of the chair, and Raleigh could see the question coming even as she tried to frame it, leaning forward with a wicked smile. “You planning on adopting a baby like Magnus Bane?”

“I hadn’t considered it.”

“Guess you won’t need to, not with your – ”

“ _Friend_ ,” Raleigh corrected before Morgan had even said a word.

“ _Friend_ , Kezi Tannenbaum claiming you two have a baby on the way.”

_Fuck Kezi Tannenbaum so goddamned hard._ Raleigh thought to himself even as he smiled. ‘Friend’ was hardly the right word to describe him and Kezi.

His parents had given him long-winded spiels before he’d even hit puberty about stunting, and afterwards, they’d sat him down and explained about Elena Valence and his father when he’d been a toddler. It had been a harsh but need lesson on the absolute horridness of Hollywood that he’d never forgotten – _couldn’t_ forget when every time Elena and his father ended up at an event together the temperature dropped twenty degrees and even people who didn’t know them had to chose sides. He had never expected to be in that situation.

Ever.

He was half-right. Frankly, Raleigh thought his situation was worlds worse.

“Didn’t we just have a talk about private lives?” Morgan smirked triumphantly, and Raleigh gave her a blasé shrug even as he wanted to throttle both her and Kezi…not necessarily in that order. “And anyway, that’s Kezi’s business. If she wants to talk about it, I have nothing but well wishes for her.”

“And for your parents too, I assume, since their marriage is in so much trouble.” Raleigh stilled minutely, and Morgan beamed as the crowd hushed, “According to rumors.”

“According to rumors I’m in an illicit love affair with Willamina Leddy who’s _at least_ twice my age and who I only had a five minute conversation with at a children’s cancer awareness banquet over foie gras and lukewarm champagne. That doesn’t make it true. My parent’s marriage is not up for discussion. Ever,” Raleigh told her in a voice so glacial that he could see the entire room freeze, unsure what to do or how to react. After all, Raleigh was a golden boy. He’d taken both his professional and media cues from his papa, which meant being charming, saccharine, and svelte at all times. Anyone who knew him, knew better than that, but his public façade rarely ever faltered and never to this extent. “These are people’s lives everyone’s salivating over. People want to see a marriage crash and burn for their amusement. I’m not impressed. Whether or not my parent’s marriage is falling apart is no one’s business, it’s not a joke, and it’s not tabloid fodder. These men who broke boundaries, who are experts in their field, who have been married for _seventeen years_ and have three kids together. My parent’s are having a rough time, but they’re fine and if they weren’t turning them into a national tragedy and digging through their dirty laundry certainly wouldn’t help and anything the press poked at or dug up for a story that contributed to a marriage’s implosion would be just as much on the press as it would be on the people involved. So spare me your false sympathy. If you had any actual, sincere _empathy_ for the situation, then you never would have brought it up.”

Dead silence rang through the room while Morgan sat across from him looking shocking chastised and bone white.

Exhaustion swept through him as he glanced off-stage at a producer who made a familiar gesture, and Raleigh tipped his head towards the camera with a bright smile and a well irritation. “Lovely to talk to all you gorgeous people, when we get back Morgan’ll pull her dignity off the floor and talk to Kyle Jameson, the writer of bestselling book series _The Romans_ , which actually has _nothing_ to do with Roman mythology. Stay thirsty my friends.”

Shannon sighed, off-stage, and dropped her head in her hands.

Yeah, he’d spent way too much time with Uncle Bailey.


	2. "Pillowtalk" by Zayn Malik

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bae comes home

**Text message from Violet**

**Violet:** They’re doing it again.

 

**Text message from Virgil**

**Virgil:** Did Vi tell you?

**Virgil:** You need to come home.

**Virgil:** Come save us.

**Virgil:** Or we can come to you. I’m not picky.

 

**Text message to Reina**

**Aubrey:** Are they that bad?

**Reina:** Listen.

**Reina:** Having parents that actually like each should not be such a pain in the ass.

**Reina:** This is what happens with hormonal 14yr olds

**Reina:** They’re kissing while they cook and dancing in the kitchen.

**Reina:** Dad’s become a puddle of mush cuz papa’s serenading him

**Reina:** The teens need to loose their cootie phobia.

**Aubrey:** …I don’t even know where to go with this.

**Aubrey:** Ok.

 

**Group MMS: Violet, Virgil, and Aubrey**

**Aubrey:** Why are you both so weird and dramatic?

**Aubrey:** Call me when they kill each other.

**Aubrey:** Don’t you two have exams to study for or something? Jfc

 

**Patrick Gallagher (@StPatty_)**

Sometimes no matter how hard you try, things are just too broken to fix.

 

**Text message to Charlie**

**Salem:** Does your hubby know how the press will run with that?

**Charlie:** He’s mourning.

**Salem:** I love you both but he needs to stop.

**Salem:** You can mourn later.

**Salem:** It’s not fair to do it now. You both need to focus on your kids.

 

**Cherokee Beck (@drawmecherokee)**

@Raleigh_Beck way to slay during an interview

 

**Maryse Godfrey (@maryseMarie)**

@drawmecherokee Idk if that’s something to be cheering him on for.

 

**Aspen Beck (@AspenNYC)**

@maryseMarie pipe down over there cuz. Preach @drawmecherokee preach

 

**Arthur Bailey (@ArthurBailey)**

@DorianII they young learn so well. I’m so so proud :’)

 

**Irial Dorian Grayson (@DorianII)**

@ArthurBailey same :D

 

**Cris Emerson (@Cris_Emerson)**

@ArthurBailey @DorianII incorrigible…

 

**Aubrey Grayson (@AubreyGray)**

Photographing Brooklyn <3 #nyc #photography #yes #iamhipster

* * *

The sun had set for hours by the time Aubrey Headley Grayson hopped off the subway and climbed the three flights of stairs that housed his cozy two bedroom East Village apartment. The Nikon camera looped around his neck bounced against his chest as trotted up the stairs, and he tripped over his doormat as he made his way inside. Aubrey tossed back his head and sighed, stripping off his jacket and tossing it on the table by the door, ignoring the hook completely. Bone-deep exhaustion had settled over him halfway through the train ride, and he struggled to pull his metrocard, wallet, and keys from his pocket, tossing them atop his jacket as he trudged further inside.

Aubrey stilled halfway inside, cocking his head to the side as he listened to the faint noises of phasers firing and the odd explosion and smelt the scent of baking cake. Frowning, Aubrey toed off his shoes and padded into the kitchen, frown deepening as his eyes swept over what had been a pristine kitchen before he left that now consistent of a giant Artichoke pizza sitting open and half-eaten on the counter beside a bottle of Russian vodka, three empty cans of vanilla Coke, and a cooling tray of peanut butter cookies cooling as what looked like cupcakes began to rise in the oven.

With a slice of pizza dangling from his fingers and his eyes locked on the screen of his laptop, Raleigh sprawled half across the countertop with a clove cigarette still smoking in the rarely used ashtray. More alarming than Raleigh burying himself in junk food, alcohol and baked goods was that he was drowning in an NYU sweatshirt, harem sweatpants, and with his long wavy hair half twisted up as it slowly followed gravity and began to collapse.

It had been _years_ since Aubrey had seen Raleigh looking anything other than immaculate…or, at least, _this_ wrecked. And they’d known each other as children. Hell, the first time Aubrey had met Raleigh when they’d been four and seven respectively, Raleigh had had his fingernails painted a glittering purple and a woven fedora perched atop his shoulder-length dark curls. Raleigh didn’t do casual and did junk food only the rarest of occasions except for the pints of ice cream he hid in the depths of the freezer, pretending he didn’t nibble on every night.

Not that Aubrey’d ever call him on it.

Setting his camera down on the ledge of the counter, Aubrey walked up to him slowly and gently rested a hand on his arm, murmuring his name quietly.

Raleigh startled and whirled around to look at Aubrey, eyes puffy and red, before relaxing as he reached out to wrap Aubrey in a hug.

“ _Hey brat,_ ” Raleigh signed shakily.

Aubrey frowned at him and nudged the pizza box out of the way as he hopped up on the counter, quirking an eyebrow and reaching out to pull Raleigh into his arms. His boyfriend rested his forehead against Aubrey’s collarbone as he sagged into him bonelessly.

“The hearing aids are on.”

“How long have they been on?”

“Salem says it’s fine.”

“My uncle doesn’t know _everything_ ,” Raleigh huffed.

Laughing, Aubrey shook his head. “Are you sure about that?” Raleigh hummed but didn’t answer, and Aubrey’s eyes shifted to the laptop before rolling to the ceiling. “This the Han Solo movie?”

“The one you skipped? Yes.” Raleigh pulled back and frowned thoughtfully at Aubrey, concern etched into his expression that Aubrey recognized. “Do you need to take them out?”

Truthfully, yes, but Aubrey didn’t know if whatever conversation _this_ was going to be would suffice in sign language.

Aubrey hadn’t spent his _whole_ life being deaf, but both he and Raleigh had managed long enough with it to know that some arguments were verbally preferred. Sometimes shit got shaky or emotional or borderline traumatic, and it was just easier to duke it out in a way that dismissal didn’t equal simply closing ones eyes or turning ones back. They’d moved passed that regardless, and Aubrey honestly didn’t think that this would turn into a fight, a breakdown maybe, but not a fight.

Shaking his head, Raleigh reached over and tapped the hearing aid in his ear gently, half-smiling weakly. “Take them out. And have a drink. We’ll manage.”

Sighing, Aubrey plucked the dying cigarette from the ashtray and inhaled as Raleigh offered his unbelievably strong Russian vodka and vanilla coke with an impossibly fond look on his face. Shaking his head, he fought a smile, blushing, and reached up to pluck his one of a kind, Daiki Company hearing aids out of his ears and drop them into the container that Raleigh held up with a bemused, expectant look on his face. Unable to stop himself, Aubrey leaned over to peck Raleigh’s lips and whisper inaudibly, “Tyrant.”

Raleigh grinned and offered him a slice of pizza, which Aubrey took with another roll of his eyes as Raleigh indulged his inability to swallow the rocket fuel he called alcohol, taking a Stella Artois Cidre from the fridge and passing it to him, endlessly amused.

He wasn’t completely deaf, not even sans hearing aids, but Aubrey – and the US government – presumed he was close enough. He knew he’d been able to hear when he was younger, been able to when he’d been adopted by Irial Grayson and Cris Emerson when he’d been four and pathetic – and he _had_ been pathetic regardless of what anyone else though. Aubrey had seen pictures of him, skeletal, matted dark hair, and his big gray eyes full of tears as he clutched a piece of stained, moth-eaten fabric to his chest. He’d been abandoned, the reports said, at a football stadium…or, at least, that’s where he’d been found post-game by Arthur Bailey and Rafael Correa before being plucked out of their arms into his parents’.

Somewhere between being adopted at – the doctors assumed – aged four and his sixth birthday his hearing had slowly and steadily declined. Raleigh, of all people, had figured it out, had pulled him in front of their parents and gripped his hands as he’d explained that there was something wrong with Aubrey’s ears.   That he only _heard_ if Raleigh was practically screaming at him. Everyone else had just assumed he’d been a quiet child or a dim one. He’d had enough hearing for a cochlear implant, but it had been Salem who’d pointed out that deafness was a culture more than a disability, that maybe it was a culture he’d someday want to be apart of, and had offered to make him specialized hearing aids.

_God bless Salem Petrov, honestly._

Raleigh had spent over a year meticulously learning sign language while Aubrey had been adjusting to living partially deaf as Salem talked to doctors and specialists and studied hearing aids and implants. By the time Aubrey had next seen Raleigh, he’d become fluent in Pigeon sign language, and Aubrey had fallen head over heels in love.

Which had worked out…eventually.

They munched on their pizza in silence, Raleigh’s eyes trained on the film playing on his computer screen while Aubrey trained his eyes on his boyfriend’s pale, haggard face. He looked _devastated_ , broken, on the verge of an absolute breakdown, which was scarier than when Raleigh had destroyed Morgan Oliph – God rest the bitch’s soul – on national television during her own program like a perfect purebred show dog had suddenly morphed into a trained attack dog…or, like, a werewolf…on the full moon.

Aubrey had walked it in the dressing room with alarm, brushing off his makeup artist and his best friend, Naeveh, as they’d moaned about people waiting on them and angry photographers and New York requirements about how long they could monopolize a section of a city park.

Whatever, his boyfriend had clearly lost his damned mind.

When Aubrey finished his slice, he tossed the crust into the box and brushed a stray lock of Raleigh’s hair behind his ear, drawing a soft smile from Raleigh as he tilted his head to study him wordlessly.

“ _What happened today?_ ” He signed seriously.

Raleigh’s chest rose and fell as he sighed, eyes slipping closed as a look of profound sadness slipped over his face. Aubrey reached out for him, and Raleigh drew back abruptly shaking his head and pulling out his cigarettes. Fighting off the automatic pang of hurt at the rebuff, Aubrey rocked back on the countertop and watched Raleigh as he lit another cigarette and took a long drag off it before turning to Aubrey. He rested the cigarette in the ashtray as he signed back, “ _My sister’s terminal. She’s dying. How does that even happen how does a fourteen year old girl just die?_ ”

Aubrey reeled back in shock, unsure how to respond to the unexpected admittance

Aspen Beck had been diagnosed with leukemia when she was five, and since then, it had been a constant struggle for the whole family that they’d all pretended it _wasn’t_. Especially Aspen. Aspen had insisted she stay enrolled in her private school and had been lucky enough to cultivate art, graphic design, and epic video-gaming as her hobbies and interests so no one outside their immediate circle of friends (at Aspen’s request) had to know about her condition. At ten, she’d been in remission before relapsing two years later in a spectacular fashion.

Still, no one had expected to hear she was terminal not when just four weeks Aubrey had picked her up from an art class with her thin, golden blonde hair blowing into her face, a bright smile on her lips, and a sketchbook under her arm as she’d practically skipped to the taxi idling on the curb as she prattled on endlessly about drawing a graphic novel with some idiot boy in her art class named Gideon.

With trembling hands, Aubrey asked, “ _Do they know how long?_ ”

Raleigh rolled his eyes helplessly as tears welled in them, shaking his head and laughing bitterly. “ _Four months at most._ ”

_Fuck._

It was no wonder he looked ready to implode.

Aubrey had three siblings, Reina who’d been adopted from Venezuela and Violet and her twin brother Virgil from Northern Italy. The latter were the same age as Aspen. He couldn’t imagine what he’d do if he lost them, if he knew they were going to die and there was nothing he could do about it. And there was _nothing_ they could do about Aspen. He hadn’t expected death, but Aubrey knew they’d exhausted all their avenues of treatment. Years of chemotherapy and radiation and bone marrow transplants had tapped out Aspen’s immune system effectively enough that Salem had given her a bunch of bedazzled and designed surgical masks from Asia in complete and total seriousness.

“ _When did you find out?_ ”

“ _Before the interview. A few minutes before._ ”

His mouth dropped open in shock as he stared at his destroyed boyfriend in shock and dawning horror. “ _You should not have given that interview._ ”

“ _I had to._ ”

“ _No,_ ” Aubrey signed harshly, furious.

Raleigh swallowed and shook his head, reaching for his cigarette with trembling hands and cursing as it fell to the tiled floor by his feet. He looked up at Aubrey, the vulnerability on his face, startling, “ _I –_ ”

“ _Stop._ ” Aubrey gestured sharply, and he did, eyes downcast and entire frame trembling with the effort it took not to breakdown like he wanted to. _At least he’s still talking_ , Aubrey thought to himself as he hopped off the counter and crossed the small room. He’d only experienced Raleigh’s silent breakdown once before, and Aubrey had been so terrified that he’d bundled him, trembling and hyperventilating, into an Uber, dragging him to his parent’s apartment in Tribeca. In had taken a week to draw him out of that, and Aubrey absolutely didn’t want him to devolve that far.

Aubrey swept the cigarette off the floor and tossed it into the sink before wrapping Raleigh in his arms tightly. For a moment, Raleigh tensed, stoic and resolute, before the melting against Aubrey, burying his face into Aubrey’s chest as his arms wrapped around his waist, and he sobbed, trembling violently enough that Aubrey maneuvered them out of the kitchen and down the slip of hallway into the bedroom that had somehow become a mix of the two of them when neither of them had intended or been looking.

He didn’t know how long they sat there on top of the covers with Raleigh wrapped in his arms sobbing as his hands clutched the fabric of his shirt like he was afraid Aubrey would disappear, but Aubrey didn’t move beyond stroking Raleigh’s hair and studying the pattern of the light across the ceiling. He felt his phone vibrate but didn’t try to pull it out, afraid even that slight movement would upset Raleigh.

Hours later when Raleigh had worked himself into a fitful sleep, Aubrey gently detached himself, maneuvering Raleigh under the covers and padding back out into the kitchen. He pulled out his phone as he tossed the pizza into the fridge, quirking an eyebrow at the frantic messages.

**Patrick G.:** Is Raleigh with u?

**Charlie B.:** We can’t get in touch with Raleigh. Do u kno where he is?

**Tech Wiz:** They are stressing about Raleigh. Tell me he’s with you.

**Patrick G.:** Has he contacted you?

**Patrick: G.:** I think his phone’s off. No one’s seen him for hours.

**Papa:** They’re panicking, Aubrey. If you know where he is just tell them.

**Tech Wiz:** He’s with you right? Don’t make me hack you.

Aubrey rolled his eyes and sent out a mass text.

**Aubrey:** Raleigh’s here. Safe. Cried himself to sleep. Talk to everyone tomorrow earliest.

Pouring the remains of Raleigh’s drink down the drain, Aubrey stilled, hands clenched against the ledge of the sink and bowed his head, blinking back tears. For Aspen. For Patrick and Charlie. For _Raleigh_. Even for Salem and Bailey who’d lived vicariously through Patrick Charlie to avoid having their own kids.

Everyone from their parent’s generation were _so_ intertwined that no one Aubrey knew would be unaffected by Aspen dying, and Aubrey couldn’t figure out whether that was a good thing or a bad one. Sighing, Aubrey ran his hand through his hair and grabbed the container with his hearing aids and Raleigh’s dying laptop, walking back to his bedroom as quietly as he could only to find Raleigh’s hazel eyes peering at him warily from under the covers.

Aubrey dropped what he was carrying on the desk and turned to Raleigh, the pair of them watching each other for a moment across the dim expanse of room.

Raleigh scrunched his nose and sat up, running the overlong, bunched up sleeves of his sweatshirt over his face. “ _She’s,_ ” Raleigh paused, eyes flitting up to the ceiling as he drew in a long, slow breath. He started again. “ _My parents were going to take her home, but she wants to stay. In the hospital. She’s made friends with all the other kids in the ward._ ” Aubrey nodded, understanding and yet not. “ _I’m going to Los Angeles._ ”

He still didn’t understand why that had been so hard for Raleigh to say. Cautiously, Aubrey nodded.

A look of frustration crossed over Raleigh’s face as he continued. “ _Will you come with me?_ ”

Half-smiling, Aubrey pushed himself off the desk and sat down cross-legged facing Raleigh on the bed, resting his knee atop Raleigh’s stretched out leg beneath the cover. “ _All you have to do is ask._ ” Aubrey told him sincerely, reaching out to stroke Raleigh’s face gently.

“ _Are you sure?_ ” Raleigh asked, a stricken look crossing his face as he managed to choke up without making a single sound. “ _You don’t have to._ ”

Aubrey cocked his head as he studied Raleigh for a moment before starting hesitantly, “ _Do you remember when you wanted to find your mother?_ ”

Raleigh stilled and flushed, “ _I wish I could forget._ ”

Aubrey did too, honestly. Raleigh had been seventeen and shooting a movie in London over the summer between his junior and senior year while staying with his grandmother, Libby, when he’d approached his parents about tracking down the woman who’d given birth to him. Charlie had been furious and rattled as he’d turned to Patrick who’d shrugged, told him to call Salem, and said _they_ wanted absolutely nothing more to do with the woman. Salem had been as deeply skeptical as Raleigh’s parents when the pair of them had shown up on his doorstep looking for a way to find Kelsie Klein, but two hours and a veritable feast of Nandos later courtesy of Cameron and Bailey had delivered them with the address of Kelsie Boehler née Lawson née Klein, waitress at a gentleman’s club in Berlin.

Kelsie had feigned tears as she’d rushed to embrace a startled and entirely uncertain Raleigh, declaring she’d always loved him but his parents had kept her from him, and how ashamed she was for her son to see her working in what _barely_ passed as lingerie to get by. Her _husband_ had stuck with it until getting drunk and spilling about how Kelsie hadn’t wanted a kid and abandoned him so she could runaway from the piles and piles of debt Charlie and Patrick had paid off in order to get her to sign over her rights. When Raleigh had refused to loan her money, she’d threatened to go to the press with a story about him, and Raleigh had called Alexander Sullivan then and there to go over NDA contract law in her shabby living rooms.

All hell had broken loose.

No child needed to know that his mother had tried – and ultimately failed – to self-abort him during pregnancy because his grandmother thought they could use him as leverage for cash and publicity over his famous father.

Raleigh had been catatonic outside of work for nearly a month after the fact.

“ _Your mother was a train wreck that I wish we never went on._ ” Raleigh winced, and Aubrey sighed, “ _But I’d do it again with you, if you asked. Because I’m here for you, and I support you, and I want to stand with you through all of the good times and through all the bad ones. I love you._ ”

Raleigh smiled at him timidly. “ _Even after all the shit I put you through?_ ”

Aubrey did not ever need to be reminded of their complicated road to being a couple…or by extension Raleigh’s seemingly endless parade of boyfriends, girlfriends, and one night stands that always seemed to crop up out of the woodwork when their relationship hit severe lows. Raleigh had assured him there hadn’t been nearly as many as the press insisted there was, but Aubrey didn’t want to know specifics. At all.

“ _Even though you won’t come out and are letting the whole world think you knocked up a popstar,_ ” Aubrey said with a sharp, humorless smile.

_That_ had been a point of contention for days.

Getting that particular text message when Aubrey had been shooting for Saint Laurent in Paris while Raleigh had been doing movie promo in LA had led to the loudest text message fight probably in history followed by several days of ignoring his boyfriend altogether followed by ignoring his boyfriend’s _presence_ when Raleigh had shown up on his doorstep in New York, knocking instead of using his key and bearing take away falafel, fries, heavenly ambrosia that was aioli dip from Taïm, his favorite falafel place. The strawberry, raspberry, and thai basil smoothie that had kept him from sleeping in the hallway.

“ _You know why I can’t right now_ ,” Raleigh told him with utter sincerity.

And he did.

Raleigh had been ready to come out for years, the only reason he hadn’t before was simply because he hadn’t thought his personal life was anyone else’s business. By the time he’d _wanted_ to, other things had kept him rooted firmly and completely in the closet, much to his and Aubrey’s dismay.

Aubrey pursed his lips even as he mouth, “I know.”

Quirking an eyebrow, a sly smile curved Raleigh’s lips as he leaned forward, carding his fingers through Aubrey’s hair and sliding his hand under Aubrey’s shirt and over his side. He nipped Aubrey’s lip before pulling back and murmuring slow enough for Raleigh to read his lips, “I’ll make it up to you.” Aubrey smirked and shook his head as Raleigh pulled him onto his lap and into a heated kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yep, Raleigh is dating Iri's adoptive son, which just makes me...well you'll see. I draw the line at writing a sex scene about a child who was literally a five year like ten minutes ago, there has be a limit somewhere. This is the line in the sandbox. Just no. Aubrey is legally deaf but is actually not fully deaf. (I did research on this a minute ago but my roommates are being annoying again and it's midnight and I'm dying from allergies so bear with me.)
> 
> In other news, if you're ever in New York City try Artichoke Pizza (just their artichoke pizza it's soooo good but they're margarita is kind of slacking and you can find wayyyyy better cheese and pepperoni slices literally anywhere else). Also Taim any of their smoothies and their fries with aioli. I'm having a food-gasm just thinking about it...but then I've been in London for months. I practically faint at the thought of Wendy's because even chicken nuggets are better than anything I can get here.
> 
> Pigeon sign language is a thing (Idk if I spelt that properly) but my mom speaks it. From what she's told me it's a mashup of a lot of the major sign language 'branches' I want to say. So I know England and America have different ways to sign a lot of different things. My mom can understand both. I used to be able as well (apparently I could sign before I could talk) that ship has sailed and I am a one-language wonder. It's sad really.


	3. "Battle Scars" by Lupe Fiasco ft. Guy Sebastian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter the siblings, family and hospital

To: chazandstpatty@gmail.co.uk

Cc: raleighkylobeck@gmail.com

From: aubreygrayson203@gmail.co.uk

Subject: Flight Info

I know how you two like to know everything under the sun on planet earth, honestly. We’re flying out the day after tomorrow (today-tomorrow because it’s 2am here…and like 11 over there nvm). We’ll be getting in early in the morning and go straight to the house to drop off our bags. We can bring Cherokee too if you want if she doesn’t want to go that early or needs to sleep.

Let us know,

Aubrey

 

**Cherokee Beck (@drawmecherokee)**

Here’s the question: Russian and Indian high fashion. Yay or nay?

 

**Aspen Beck (@AspenNYC)**

@drawmecherokee what did you smoke last night Cher?

 

**Charles Beck (@CharlieBeck)**

@drawmecherokee yay

 

**Patrick Gallagher (@StPatty_)**

I feel so outnumbered by fashionistas. @AspenNYC you’re the only one who understands

 

**Charlotte Harbourne (@LadyLibby)**

@drawmecherokee try it out and see. Won’t know until you try.

 

**Raleigh Beck (@Raleigh_Beck)**

@drawmecherokee why are you like this? Nay

 

**Daphne Beck-Breckenridge (@13poppies)**

@drawmecherokee ooooh yay, darling, yay

 

**Radio Interview with Kezi Tannenbaum**

**Interviewer:** Congratulations on your pregnancy.

**Kezi:** Thank you so much! I’m really excited. It’s a really amazing time.

**Interviewer:** How far along are you exactly?

**Kezi:** Five months.

**Interviewer:** You still look great?

**Kezi:** Do I? Did I get the pregnancy glow because I got the swollen ankles and the morning sickness so I can’t help but hope for one positive other than, you know, a baby at the end of the line.

**Interviewer:** You’re definitely glowing, but that might just be you.

**Kezi:** Or the body glitter.

**Interviewer:** Or that. Speaking of glitter, rumor has it that you’re baby daddy is the amazing actor – and we _can_ all agree he’s an incredible actor, right? – Raleigh Beck.

**Kezi:** Look it’s still really early, and I don’t really want to go into either of our private lives. Raleigh and I are obviously really close, and a baby will be changing a lot of the dynamics of my personal life. We’re both very…finicky about what we choose to share. There’s still a lot for both of us to talk about before we start announcing things and picking out china.

**Interviewer:** Picking out china…it’s that serious, huh?

**Kezi:** I mean I can only hope.

 

**Text message to Harry**

**Raleigh:** She’s a loose canon.

**Raleigh:** She confirmed paternity on a nationwide radio station

**Raleigh:** Without claiming paternity!!!!!!!!

**Harry:** I heard.

**Raleigh:** I have enough to deal with. I don’t have time for bullshit.

**Raleigh:** I don’t have time for STUNTING. This was supposed to be hands off.

**Harry:** It’s not anymore.

**Harry:** Because you’re bisexual it won’t go away when you come out.

**Raleigh:** Not even when A and I admit we’ve been dating for almost 3yrs

**Harry:** No.

**Harry:** This’ll have to get messy.

**Raleigh:** As long as it gets messy while I’m with my sister and away from this shitstorm

**Raleigh:** I don’t give a fuck.

 

**Text message to Kezi**

**Raleigh:** Have I mentioned today that I hate you?

**Kezi:** How’s your boyfriend?

**Raleigh:** Eat shit and die.

**Raleigh:** You are actually satan.

**Raleigh:** I feel so bad for your child.

**Kezi:** Fuck you douchebag.

**Raleigh:** Apparently that’s what got me into this mess. According to you anyway.

 

**Aubrey Grayson (@AubreyGray)**

Off to LaLaLand…

 

**Reina Grayson (@ThatGrayQueen)**

@AubreyGray I’m so jealous. It’s raining in London again :’(

 

**Irial Dorian Grayson (@DorianII)**

@ThatGrayQueen I have no idea why you’re crying daughter of mine. You’re in class, right?

 

**Cris Emerson (@Cris_Emerson)**

@AubreyGray have…well probably not a good time but…have the day you have.

 

**Irial Dorian Grayson (@DorianII)**

@Cris_Emerson The Odd Life of Timothy Green! #nailedit

 

**Cris Emerson (@Cris_Emerson)**

@DorianII Captive Prince marathon tonight, elf?

 

**Irial Dorian Grayson (@DorianII)**

@Cris_Emerson absolutely princess. I’ll buy popcorn. You buy lube :*

 

**Violet Grayson (@violet_light)**

I’m going to sink into a puddle of my own embarrassment now #whatismylife

* * *

In the fight against nature versus nurture, Raleigh felt that Charlie Beck just won regardless.

With Aspen and Cherokee, his parents had used an egg donor, a surrogate, and hadn’t wanted to know who biologically fathered the child. It was all bullshit because Aspen had popped out with blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes and their Aunt Poppy’s feminine bone structure that complimented their papa’s with Charlie’s tanned, Australian skin. Cherokee had been a green-eyed, black haired, alabaster-skinned Irish-descended belle with the ability to sunburn from a direct ray of moonlight. But they’d all taken after Charlie regardless of genetics.

Cherokee had thrown herself into fashion between one breath in the next, on a global scale not a personal one. The twelve year old dressed in shades of black, gray, and drab that was physically painful for Raleigh to endure, but her sketches and designs were expressive, vibrant, innovative, and always _always_ edgy and eccentric. Aspen had taken up art and graphic design, while more Patrick’s forte, she also developed a keen interest in cooking, surfing, and horseback riding. When those hadn’t been allowed due to her deteriorating condition, Aspen had dived into video games and languages, spending hours cooking or painting while holding halted conversation in foreign languages with either Charlie or his numerous international friends. She’d tested out her skills via video games on international servers where she tried for creative disses sans cuss words.

Aspen had been blocked from more than few servers.

A squeal greeted Raleigh and Aubrey before they’d barely even got the door open mere seconds before Cherokee came sliding down the bannister and leaping into Raleigh’s arms gleefully. Aubrey steadied Raleigh as he dropped the bags and stumbled back, narrowly managing to catch his shrieking sister in his arms.

“Jesus, Cher, what if I wasn’t ready?”

“Then our parents would have two kids in the hospital,” Cherokee pointed out as Raleigh set her back on her feet. The door closed behind them as Cherokee turned to Aubrey with a bright smile, “Bree.”

“Cher,” Aubrey said, the air between them stilling before she jumped at him too, hugging him tightly.

Raleigh raised his eyebrows, looking between them and shaking his head as he grabbed both their bags and set them at the base of the stairs, turning to look at his youngest sister.

Cherokee might have been living with Aspen’s illness the longest and the closest, but not even their sister’s cancer had managed to kill her perkiness. It had only been a week since he’d seen his sister, but she seemed no worse for the wear. Her dark hair was streaked with red and purple and tied up in a ponytail, her hands were smudged with charcoal or graphite from where they poked out beneath what was undoubtedly their dad’s sweater, and her smile was wide revealing two rows of neon orange braces. He wondered just how she managed to be so relaxed and happy with what was going on.

“Why do you look so grim?” Cherokee asked him offhandedly as she slid in her baggy socks across the polished wood floor and into the kitchen, Raleigh and Aubrey following behind cautiously.

Raleigh and Aubrey exchanged a quizzical look as Cherokee grabbed a bottle of Smart Water out of the fridge and hopped onto the counter, raising her eyebrows at Raleigh. He glanced at Aubrey who nodded once before he turned back to his sister. “Cher, did papa and dad not tell you?”

The stillness of her gave her away, and she sighed, tilting back her head and pursing her lips together as she studied the ceiling before her chin dropped her and her emerald eyes narrowed on Raleigh. “I know Aspen’s dying, Raleigh. I’ve always known Aspen was dying. _We’ve_ always known Aspen was dying even if everyone wanted to pretend otherwise, even Aspen. I’m twelve. I live with her _all the time_. She’s not happy, Raleigh. She’s sick but she pretends she isn’t. She’s in pain or she’s medicated, there’s not in between. She can’t go to school like a normal kid or play with her friends like a normal kid and can’t go out in public without a surgical mask. She’s weak and she’s tired and she’s lost all her hair. She’s never going to grow up or fall in love or get a job. She’s scared anymore. She’s just…sad. Aspen’s ready to go, and she’s been ready go for a _long_ time. She did this, she _fought_ this for us. It’s not so bad if she doesn’t want to fight anymore. I love her, but I’ve already mourned her when she stopped caring. She’s ready to die, and we need to let her.” Cherokee told Raleigh calmly, unshed tears welling in her eyes as she gave him a watery smile.

Aubrey glanced between them uncertainly, and Raleigh crossed the room swiftly and wrapped his sister in hug, his heart utterly breaking as he processed what she’d said. What she knew that no one else, save maybe his parents and Aspen’s doctor, did.

“I’m so sorry,” Raleigh told her quietly.

Cherokee laughed wetly and pushed him away, swiping a tear from her eye. “Why are _you_ sorry, loser? Did you give her cancer? Don’t be such a martyr.” Shaking her head, she turned to Aubrey and tensed, narrowing her eyes on him and cocking her head before realization seemed to sweep over her. “ _I forget sometimes. Sorry,_ ” she signed to him, her movements clumsy and unpracticed by understandable.

Grinning at her, Aubrey shook his head. “ _It’s fine, Cher. I have my hearing aids in._ ”

She flushed and bit her lip as she tossed him a sheepish smile. Raleigh rolled his eyes at the pair of them even as a smile crossed his face a moment before the sharp sound of high heels over wooden floors had them both turning their heads to the door as their Aunt Poppy swept into the room like a hurricane with her impeccable golden blonde hair up in a loose knot and dressed down for her in a pair of skinny jeans and a peasant top. Aunt Poppy froze in the doorway, glancing between them all before settling on Charlie with a soft smile.

“There you are, munchkin. How you doing?” She asked as she pulled him into a hug.

Raleigh hugged her back tightly and let her kiss him on the cheek without complaint as she cupped his face in her hands and frowned at him. “I didn’t know you were here.”

“Listen, munchkin, everyone’s here,” Aunt Poppy exclaimed. “Salem will be out tomorrow, and Bailey when the season’s finished. Jarek and Lorraine just got in from Barbados. Kaja and Oskar are coming down from Poland. Your grandmother and Fitz flew down the day we got the news. Your great uncle Cody and his wife, Selena. _All_ Patrick’s aunts, uncles, and their broods actually. David’s already here with Lydia, they even brought their baby boy, Jamie, with them. Adorable. Dean’s coming up when he has a chance for me and the kids. It’s going to be a madhouse, Raleigh. Like a family reunion but a million times worse.”

“They won’t all be wearing black will they?” Cherokee asked from behind. “That seems depressing.”

Aunt Poppy pointed a finger at her and nodded, “I completely agree, but I’m just the messenger. Your parents already left for the hospital. Has anyone seen my troublemakers running around?”

“Pool,” Salem said as he loped into the room, raising his eyebrows at the three of them.

Aunt Poppy nodded before her eyes widened, “Pool?!” She kicked off her heels and sprinted, everyone save Aubrey wincing as she screamed at her children.

Poppy Beck had been a party girl back in her prime; they’d all been told, in addition to being such a fantastic model. Her party girl habits and tendency for picking up entirely the wrong men had landed her in bed with industry management mogul, Jesse Godfrey, and nine months later it had landed them their now sixteen year old daughter, Maryse. Their romance had been a one-off, but they’d stuck by each other emotionally to raise their child until they’d fallen into bed _again_ (though no one in the family thought it had been the first time since, well, the _first time_ ) while Jesse had been engaged to a brilliant app developer named Nikita Odinida. That ‘one more one-off’ had ended in the termination of Jesse’s engagement and Poppy’s second child, Harriet. A couple years after, Poppy had married an LA Kings hockey player named Dean Breckenridge from Nova Scotia and popped out her last child, Torin, never looking back.

His uncle Salem, on the other hand, had been shockingly steady. It was a feat that, Raleigh had gathered, most people in their lives had been surprised about. Raleigh, though, had never known his godfather as anything other than utterly dependable, goal-oriented, and outrageously intelligent. Devoted his fortune 500 consumer electronics company that _still_ ranked number one in costumer satisfaction and infatuated with his longtime boyfriend and former pro-footballer, Arthur Bailey. The pair of them had been more steady than Raleigh’s own family what with him and his parents constantly travelling for work on top of Aspen’s illness. It had always been comforting to know that he could always find them either in London or in Japan unless Salem was on a business trip, but, then, Bailey had never been unwilling to host him in the meantime.

In his early forties, Salem still screamed eccentricity, though he’d forgone his ripped skinny jeans only recently. His current ensembles weren’t tight, but they weren’t sedate either all brightly colored denim, still skinny, but not clinging to the muscles of his legs like a second skin. He oscillated between a collection of graphic t-shirt and Alexander McQueen sweaters, but still dyed his hair frequently and with abandon. Bailey had just rolled his eyes and laughed when Raleigh pointed out hair dying that much could lead to early loss of hair and replied it may teach Salem a valuable lesson.

“Salem,” Raleigh grinned, tears already welling in his eyes before he’d crossed the room in a single bound to throw himself into his godfather’s arms. Salem hugged him close and rubbed his back.

“Aubrey, Indian Nation, how’s everyone?” Salem asked without letting go of Raleigh.

Cherokee huffed, “I’d be better if everyone didn’t keep crying.”

Salem laughed and nodded in understanding while Raleigh could picture Aubrey’s helpless shrug that accompanied him saying, “I don’t know? Coping? I guess? It’s a lot to take in. Makes me want to find my own siblings and bundled them up in bubble wrap.”

“You know, I think cancer can get through bubble wrap, so I’ve heard,” Salem pointed out. “But you can’t think like that, Aubrey. I mean, I have siblings too, but I need them to live their lives to the fullest not listen to me try to baby them.”

Salem’s siblings, Michi and Izumi, had become powerhouses in their own right. Michi had moved to the US after a very messy, very public split with his longtime boyfriend and former bandmate, Katsu, to build a graphic design company in San Francisco and shacking up with a club owner he _swears_ isn’t in the Russian mafia. No one quite believed him. Izumi ran head of operations for Salem’s company and worked too hard in the research and development department to Salem’s absolute joy. She was set to takeover as CEO whenever Salem chose to retire and move permanently to Japan with Bailey. People kept asking when that was, and both of them kept ducking the question.

“How’s Uncle Bailey?” Raleigh murmured, almost smiling at the sounds of Cherokee and Aubrey bickering with familiarity and affection over the proper amount of cheese to put on eggs and whether Orangina counted as breakfast-approved beverage because it was carbonated.

“Bailey’s…” Salem paused and frowned before answering. “Bailey doesn’t deal well with death. He’s trying. He’ll be here soon. He won’t be able to stay away from Aspen that long.”

Undoubtedly. Salem and Bailey had never had kids, but they’d all but adopted a few of everyone else’s. Cameron had basically lived with them for three years after Izumi had moved into her own place. Salem had been Raleigh’s favorite person for the longest time. Bailey had been godfather to his best friend, Kanani’s, only son, Louis, with her girlfriend Catriona, though that might have been since he’d been the sperm donor at the very least. And Bailey and Aspen had been almost as close as Salem and Raleigh. Bailey had adored her from the day she was born and had spent the first summer after her relapse toting her around Europe and part of Asia to see as much as she could.

“I’m gonna miss her, so much. That’s my little sister, Sale.”

Salem cupped his face and nodded with a sad smile plastered over a stricken expression. “I know. And I’m sorry you all have to go through this, but don’t mourn her yet. She needs you all to be _here_ for what little time she has left not in a perpetual state of crying over a death that hasn’t happened yet.”

“I know. I’m trying,” Raleigh confessed with a bitter laugh.

Pressing a kiss to his forehead, Salem stated firmly, “Yes, but you can’t a breakdown in front of her. I’m sure your parents already did that.”

“God, yeah,” Raleigh replied, shaking his head.

“We all ready to go?” Salem asked, pointing at Raleigh and then at Aubrey and Cherokee behind him. Aubrey came up behind Raleigh and wrapped his arms around his waist, pressing a kiss to his cheek as he nodded. Salem smirked at them as Raleigh melted against his boyfriend.

Cherokee squealed and raced off with a plate of eggs in one hand and a glass of Orangina in the other. “No! I need to eat! And get dressed! And _eat_!”

“Tragic!” Salem called back to her, swiping the Orangina from her hand and downing it in a single gulp. He yelled out to her as she disappeared, “You’ve got fifteen minutes, Cher! Let’s move!”

* * *

UCLA Medical Center had the look of, well, a hospital. Everything colored in white and pastel and muted with clean lines and restful artwork and sterile…sterile-ness. The nurses milled around in their washed out pink and blue and yellow scrubs while doctors moved in and out, checking charts and handing them back to the nurses behind the desks with either too flirtatious smiles or expressions far too grim. Everything smelled like nothing at all and flowers dotted counter tops and desktop and side tables in private rooms.

Raleigh gritted his teeth and pressed his lips together in a hard line as he half turned to Aubrey as they stepped out of the elevator. Aubrey quirked an eyebrow and tapped his finger on a plastic flower petal sitting on a small table beside the elevator, Raleigh’s lips curved up in a slight smile that only grew broader when Cherokee skipped out of the elevator and caught Aubrey’s forearm, dragging him along with a bright smile in Raleigh’s direction as they brushed passed. Rolling his eyes, Salem glanced from the retreating figure of his sister and boyfriend to Raleigh, raising his eyebrows and slinging an arm over Raleigh’s shoulders.

“Your sister rules with an iron fist.”

“Wonder where she got that from,” Raleigh and Salem shared a long-suffering look as they reached Aspen’s semi-permanent room in the cancer ward. The sounds of child’s laughter and an out of tune guitar came from further down the hallway.

Dr. Lore opened the door to Aspen room suddenly, and Cherokee startled back against Aubrey who caught her and wrapped his hands around her shoulder. The doctor’s eyes shifted from person to person before meeting Cherokee’s eyes as she smiled sweetly, making Dr. Lore laugh. “Good to see you again, Cherokee.”

“Dr. Lore. This is Aubrey. Have you met Aubrey? Now you’ve met Aubrey,” Cherokee nodded succinctly, crooking an eyebrow and tugging Aubrey passed the oncologist and into the room. Aubrey nodded once at Dr. Lore and waved awkwardly at the woman he _had_ , in fact, met before. “Aspen, God, you look like absolute shit!” Cherokee declared brightly as she disappeared into the room.

Raleigh shook his head while Salem laughed happily at her complete lack of tact.

“How is she?” Salem asked when Raleigh _couldn’t_.

Dr. Lore smiled sadly and shrugged, tapping the edge of the medical chart against the palm of her hand. “Well, she’s off all her medication as per her request except for her pain medication. She still has nausea but it’s not as severe or as frequent, and I think she probably in a lot of pain. She’s exhausted. She’s frustrated. She’s weak. And she’s insisted that she doesn’t want to be in a clean room despite how much more time that would give her. But, in terms of her immediate health, she’s doing as well as we could expect. Her vitals are holding strong. She’s doing well considering the circumstances.”

Biting the inside of his cheek, Raleigh stared down the hallway and swallowed his rising sob. A movement in the doorway drew his attention, and he looked up and met Aubrey’s eyes as he leaned against the doorframe and smiled softly at Raleigh, face tinged with sympathy and eyes too bright with unshed tears. Crossing his arms, Raleigh nodded and took a deep breath as he looked up at Dr. Lore.

“Do you…how long do you think she…?” Raleigh grimaced and shook his head, unable to finish.

“Not long, not under her current conditions,” Dr. Lore told him honestly. She rested a hand on his arm sympathetically and inclined her head. “I’m sorry.”

Raleigh nodded as she turned and walked down the hall. He glanced at Aubrey and then at Salem who smiled softly and nodded for him to go inside. He went, each step weighing him down with sadness and dread, but he forced himself not to show it. Aspen didn’t need to see it.

Aspen’s room looked more like a bedroom than a room in the hospital. One wall had been covered in a mass array of family pictures and clippings from magazines that had been drawn on with thought bubbles and commentary from her. Another two walls were a mix of Cherokee’s design sketches, Michi and their dad’s manga concept drawings, and Aspen’s own paintings. The large window was cracked open, blowing a breeze into the room, and an easel sat in the corner facing outwards, a color stained palette sat on the windowsill beside a cup of purple water and half a dozen paintbrushes of varying sizes.

His parents sat on the small couch draped with Raleigh’s old Kylo Ren fleece blanket, his papa’s legs thrown over his dad’s lap as they talked quietly with their heads close together. Cherokee sat cross-legged on the hot pink comforter tossed over Aspen frail body, a sketchbook open in her lap and a pencil between her pointer and middle finger that threatened to go flying as she gesticulated wildly over the intricacy of Indian high fashion. Aspen had her phone in hand as she laughed at Cherokee and shook her head and asked about the red dot they wore on their foreheads.

“Oh my God, you’re so culturally insensitive. It’s called a _bindi_. They’re traditional. Stop trying to appropriate a whole country’s cultural identity, Aspen. It’s tacky,” Cherokee declared as Raleigh stepped into the room with Salem and Aubrey.

His sister looked better than when he’d last seen her over a week ago, but that hardly meant she looked good. Her naturally tanned skin was pale and flushed with a yellowish tint that Raleigh had heard over and over again meant jaundice and liver failure and you can’t live without the liver. Her sapphire eyes were dull and sunken in with dark bruises beneath her eyes. Her lips were chapped, and her skin pulled tight over her bones. Her baldhead was covered with a knit cupcake beanie pulled over it. She had a massive mocha Frappuccino in one hand and an empty bag of McDonald’s on the bed side table and a glittering pink dress with a tutu skirt hanging just behind the bed.

Aspen’s eyes met his, and she smiled, “Hey munchkin, I see you brought my slave and my lover.”

Salem laughed while Aubrey shook his head and walked over to flick her lightly in the temple. “I think that counts as statutory rape, peanut.”

Shrugging half-heartedly, Aspen swatted Aubrey in the stomach and turned her gaze briefly to Salem who waved a hand dismissively. “I mean it’s the first time I’ve been called a slave in such a vanilla concept, but I’ll take it. Whatever. Bailey knows what’s up.”

Raleigh made a face while Aspen shook her head weakly. Cherokee whirled around to glare at Salem. “Gross, Uncle Sale.”

“Thanks, Cher, I try.”

Raleigh opened his mouth to talk to his dying sister when his papa cleared his throat, face hard while his dad looked to his husband both resigned and wary.

“We need to talk, Raleigh. Now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have never been the UCLA Medical Center because I avoid LA like the plague it is. That's my disclaimer. Also, Orangina is life. And Cherokee is dealing terribly, her faked blase attitude be damned.
> 
> Okay, carry on.


	4. "Weathered" by Jack Garratt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie and Patrick get real. Aspen has a break down.

**Text message from Papa**

**Papa:** How’s LA?

**Aubrey:** Depressing.

**Aubrey:** You do realize I’m @the hospital with Raleigh’s sis right?

**Papa:** I didn’t know if I should preface with: how’s the girl who’s dying?

**Aubrey:** No no. Next time start with that.

**Papa:** So how is she?

**Aubrey:** Better than most of her family. Def better than Raleigh.

**Papa:** …is Charlie pissed?

**Aubrey:** Well, he looked pretty pissed when he dragged him out of the room.

**Papa:** Chaz hate pr stunts more than I do.

**Aubrey:** I srsly doubt he hates this stunt more than me.

**Papa:** I wouldn’t bet on it :P

 

**Aspen Beck (@AspenNYC)**

Uh-oh the bro’s about to get chewed out by the rents. #gladitsnotme #lol

 

**Arthur Bailey (@ArthurBailey)**

@AspenNYC when has it EVER been you midget?

 

**Aspen Beck (@AspenNYC)**

@ArthurBailey *whistles and backs away slowly*

 

**Cherokee Beck (@drawmecherokee)**

@ArthurBailey hand to God it’s never been Aspen #itsme #itsalwaysme

 

**RT by @Unmasked**

**Gallager-Beck family falling out?**

Rumor has it that the already tumultuous relationship between Patrick Gallagher (aged 44) and husband Charlie Beck (40) has hit yet another snag. This one? Their son, Raleigh Beck, and his alleged baby with rumored girlfriend, Kezi Tannenbaum (21). In a recent radio interview, Tannenbaum dodged the question of paternity by saying, “We’re both very…finicky about what we choose to share. There’s still a lot for both of us to talk about before we start announcing things and picking out china.” Many people had taken it as a softball confirmation despite Raleigh remained silent on the subject. His family hasn’t. Sister, Aspen Beck (14), posted a Tweet claiming her “bro’s about to get chewed out by the rents” after he flew to visit his family in Los Angeles alongside close family friend and supermodel, Aubrey Grayson (19). “The whole family’s coming together,” a source close to the family said, “Raleigh’s under an insane amount of pressure and doesn’t know how to handle it. Neither do his parents.” Indeed there seems to have been a mass family relocation to LA since news broke with former supermodel and modeling agency exec, Ra-Ra Ahearne, travelling from New York to LA as has tech mogul and close family friend, Kontantin Kimura-Petrov, designer and grandmother, Charlottle Harbourne, and even grandfather and actor, Samuel Beck. We can only hope that the family remains strong and Raleigh steps up.

 

**Cameron Cunningham (@Cam76Tex)**

Wowowowowow I’m just gonna bleach my brain. #madness.

 

**Sylvia Diallo (@sylvie_diallo)**

@Cam76Tex is it possible to bleach stupidity from the brain?

 

**Rocco Beck (@locoroccoco)**

@Cam76Tex @sylvie_diallo not that kind of stupid. Lol.

 

**Text message to Maggie**

**Harry:** On the one hand I want to thank you for that article.

**Harry:** On the other I just made a deal with the devil name your price.

**Maggie:** I want the exclusive on Aspen’s death and disease.

**Harry:** …

**Harry:** …

**Harry:** You’re legitimately a snake.

**Maggie:** And I want the exclusive on Aubrey and Raleigh when they come out.

**Harry:** Well, no to the latter. Yes to the former.

**Maggie:** Don’t play hardball with me Harry.

**Harry:** I’m not. I’ve met you. I can’t agree to give you that story. It’s not my rights to give.

**Maggie:** Who’s rights are they? My nephews?

**Harry:** His boyfriend’s because Raleigh’s got a brain and knows he’d sell his soul for his sis.

**Harry:** Aubrey won’t.

**Maggie:** That whole family is a pain in my ass.

**Harry:** Pleasure doing business with you.

* * *

“Have you lost your mind, Raleigh?” Charlie demanded furiously as Aubrey stepped out of the hospital room, closing the door firmly behind him. Patrick rubbed a hand over his irate husband’s back looking worlds more placid but no less frustrated by whatever situation they’d chose  _right now_ to scream about in the middle of a hospital.

Raleigh crossed his arms over his chest and tilted up his chin in a blatant display of defiance. Every time Raleigh got that stubborn look on his face, gold speckled lined hazel eyes narrowed, chin raised, arms crossed across his chest, and feet planted wide, he devolved from a twenty-two year old man with eight Oscars and writing, directing, and producing credits in nearly a dozen movies into the petulant child that Aubrey remembered from his childhood. The last time he’d seen that particular Category 5 look had been when Raleigh was fourteen and insistent that Snow didn’t need to be put down despite the fact that she could barely walk from her bed by the space heater bought just for her to the door to go to the bathroom.

His temper tantrum when Patrick had overruled him had been nearly as intense as his ability to cry out a monsoon before getting himself confined to a bed for a week because he’d _literally_ made himself sick with grief.

“You should have told us about this,” Charlie told him hoarsely, and Aubrey spotted the chink in his armor that completely crumbled the façade of fury. Charlie wasn’t _angry_ about Kezi Tannenbaum, he was guilty and helpless and grief-stricken at what Raleigh was going through.

“I’m an adult. I made a decision. It’s nothing.”

“It _isn’t_ nothing,” Patrick corrected pointedly. “Going along with Kezi Tannenbaum – ”

“That insufferable whore,” Charlie murmured, echoing Aubrey’s own feelings wholeheartedly.

“Is insanity. Especially when you won’t make a comment. You’re letting the press – my goddamned _sister_ – drag your name through the mud, for what?”

“You _know_ what,” Raleigh argued desperately, seeming to need them to understand.

Aubrey thought that maybe they did understand, but that didn’t make them any less horrified and scared for Raleigh. Their whole generation, whole cache of famous friends, had dedicated their lives and risked their careers, families, and reputations to make sure that future generations didn’t have to go through what they did. Aubrey’s parents had been stonewalled and strangled by legalities for years. Salem and Charlie had been blackmailed by Charlie’s manager and publicist. Bailey had been conditioned so strongly that he hadn’t even bothered to hope, and here was Raleigh willingly playing up being straight, so straight he’d gotten a woman pregnant and couldn’t even be bothered to care about the kid.

They understood all to well, and that was the problem.

Charlie shook his head. “This is ridiculous. This is disgusting.”

“This was _Harry’s_ plan,” Raleigh retorted coldly. “ _You_ ’re the one who said you trusted Harry.”

“Yeah, I _do_ trust Harry!” Charlie shouted at him, “But not with this and not with you. Do you have any idea how out of control this could get? You’re dealing one of your embittered exes and her spite, and, oh you know, an actual child. This isn’t an imaginary fetus, Raleigh. This is going to pop out, and it’s going to be a child that _someone’s_ going to have to claim responsibility for at least by reputation. Do you get that? What if this doesn’t get resolved? What if Kezi opens her big fucking mouth again? Did you think about that? You shouldn’t be doing this, Raleigh.”

“I can handle it,” Raleigh said through clenched teeth.

“Can your relationship?” Patrick inquired quietly.

Stilling, Raleigh turned to stare at his dad with wide eyes and an uncertain look before tugging on the end of his ponytail as he rolled his eyes and shook his head. Aubrey smiled sadly but didn’t approach them, sensing that Charlie hadn’t finished yet. Besides, he’d come for Raleigh, but this was a conversation Raleigh _needed_ to have, didn’t need to wiggle out of it by using Aubrey’s presence as a distraction.

Charlie, Hollywood’s former golden boy and consummate charmer, shed his public persona, face shuttering, back straightening, and eyes flashing as he looked at Raleigh stoically. Raleigh stared back at his father, straightening minutely, but gaze remain steady, body unflinching. “This isn’t your responsibility. _Aspen_ isn’t your responsibility, and you shouldn’t be taking it on so heavily.”

“She’s my _sister_ ,” Raleigh insisted.

“That’s your father’s point,” Patrick pointed out as he leaned into his husband, eyes rapt on his son one second before tilting his head back and meeting Aubrey’s eyes. He quirked an eyebrow and signed discreetly, “ _You okay?_ ”

Aubrey nodded, signing back, “ _I’m fine._ ”

Patrick nodded and turned back to his husband and son. As Raleigh explained, “She asked for one thing. All she wanted was that no one know. That the press not stick their nose in her private life and take pictures of her throwing up blood and having her hair fall or speculate on her condition or her death. And she couldn’t just go missing from the public eye. You _know_ that. That’s why you didn’t dispute the story about your collapsing marriage, isn’t it?”

Regarding Raleigh stonily for a minute, Charlie ran a hand through his chin-length wavy blond hair before saying tiredly, “We can handle that. It’s not like it’s the first time that rumor’s been printed, and certainly won’t be the last. Right now, it’s not ideal…”

“It’s out of the question,” Raleigh retorted tonelessly, frustrated. “You don’t think Harry and I talked about it? We went over every avenue. Every possibility. It’s positives. It’s negatives. Everything in between. If they think that rumor has legs, and God help us all with Aunt Maggie driving it forward it has _dozens_ of legs, then all they’re going to do is dig. And if they dig what exactly are they going to find? That papa’s done half the movies he’d made per year than in previous years. That dad’s been letting his protégé direct and Avery handle all the production shit because he’s too busy. That neither of you has attended any event that you haven’t been specifically and directly connected to for almost five years. That Aspen dropped out of school and hasn’t been seen publicly in almost as long. That Cherokee constantly rallies for cancer organizations and helped gran and Aunt Poppy and Aunt Ra-Ra organize a charity fashion show for acute myeloid leukemia. I mean come on. You can’t have paps digging into your private lives because there’s actually shit to find. I…I have Aubrey whose had his ass sufficiently covered because he came out as demisexual and I’ve been spotted with every female from here to Turkey. There’s nothing to find on me. I’ve made sure of it. I promised Aspen I’d do this for her.”

“That’s the problem,” Patrick told him kindly, wrapping an arm around Charlie as he threw his hands up in frustration and shifted his gaze to the ceiling like he was praying for patience. “She never should have asked that of you, and we never should have kept our mouths shut about you agreeing to it. That’s an incredible amount of pressure to take onto your shoulders.”

“And it’s not for you?” Raleigh demanded.

Patrick shook his head, running a hand through his hair and glancing over at his increasingly frustrated husband. “We’ve done this before, Raleigh. We did it before you. We did it when you were a basket case. And we did it while you were wandering the streets of London with every mildly famous person in the UK under the age of twenty-five. We know how to do this, and it’s our responsibility to get it done. You don’t need to sacrifice your reputation for your sister. Just like you didn’t need to stay closeted for her. Just like you didn’t need to hide your relationship for her. She’s our daughter. She’s your sister. But she isn’t the be-all, end-all. We love her, but we love her too. And you’re miserable, everyone knows that.”

Raleigh stilled and took a step back, whole face shuttering as he returned defensively, “I’m not miserable.”

“You are,” Charlie spoke plainly. “I haven’t seen you this miserable since you were screwing every person on the planet so you didn’t screw Aubrey.”

Patrick rolled his eyes, and Raleigh colored, tugging on the end of his ponytail again. “He was young, gaining popularity, and…”

“And you were chickenshit and nineteen and stupid,” Charlie shrugged. Aubrey balked, a startled laugh escaping from his mouth. Patrick glanced back at him with bemusement, and Aubrey covered his mouth with his hand to stop escaping giggles. Charlie shrugged, “It’s okay. We’ve all been there, and by ‘we’ I mean _literally_ everyone non-straight adult you’ve ever met through us…including us.”

Raleigh turned impossibly redder, which was almost more amusing than Charlie’s straightforward approach to dealing with his son’s complicated relationship history. After the shit Raleigh had gotten up to in his teenage years, Aubrey could believe that Raleigh actually _blushed_ while talking about sex and relationships. The asshole had had to tell his parent’s he’d caught gonorrhea when he’d been sixteen when they’d been babysitting Aubrey and all his siblings. He’d never ever seen Raleigh so mortified by anything in his life than when Charlie had sighed in pure and utter exhaustion and looked at Patrick to say, “Well as the only sexually active person in the room who’s never accidentally impregnated anyone or caught an STD, I guess that this one’s mine, isn’t it?”

Patrick had been so horrified he’d simply gotten up and walked out of the room mumbling something about Salem, marijuana, and a good strong drink.

Aubrey hadn’t talked to Raleigh for weeks until he’d shown up at one of his shoots for Topman baring macarons from his favorite artisan chocolate shops and brand new Polaroid camera that he’d commissioned from Salem after considerable begging.

“Do you think I haven’t talked to Aubrey about this?”

“I think I know you, and I know closeted relationships,” Charlie responded dryly. “And I know better than you that when someone says they’re fine with a stunt it either never lasts or never existed in the first place. No one’s _fine_ with shit like that, and I can’t imagine Aubrey’s totally fine with your ex-whatever-the-hell-Kezi-was-a-million-years-ago telling the whole world she’s having your spawn and you’re just shrugging when people bring it up. And I know _you_. I know you’d do anything to help the people you love, especially Aspen since she’s dying.” Raleigh flinched, and Charlie continued on like he hadn’t noticed, though _Charlie Beck_ undoubtedly _had_. “You’d protect her the way you thought best at the cost of your own relationship.”

“I _wouldn’t_ ,” Raleigh insisted furiously.

Aubrey smiled sadly and shook his head. He knew better.

So did Charlie. “You wouldn’t mean to, but you would because it’s your sister’s dying wish and at least Aubrey’d be alive even if he wasn’t with you and dragged down by your problems.”

_Does he honestly think that?_

“Maybe it’d be better. I’m an asshole. I’ve always been an asshole with him. Our whole lives,” Raleigh replied quietly. “I can protect Aspen. I’m…not good at protecting Aubrey. _I’m_ the problem. I’ve always been the problem.”

Biting his lip, Aubrey bit back a sob and shook his head.

It wasn’t…necessarily…completely…true, then again, it’s wasn’t _not_.

They’d always been complicated, and Raleigh didn’t handle complicated well when he couldn’t just charm and manipulate the people involved, which, Aubrey supposed, he’d picked up from Charlie or maybe Harry…except Harry’s manipulations tended to be blatant and yet still somehow incredibly potent. Like a snake you saw coming and couldn’t run away from. In any case, Raleigh had a tendency to run away from his problems, complicated emotions, and emotional attachments to anyone outside of family at the speed of light. He was also a frightening contradiction between too trusting and not trusting at all; Raleigh would answer any question asked with guileless honesty, but every answer to every question about seven layers of depth and rarely anyone got full access to anything beneath the topmost layer, Raleigh included.

“Yeah, you have,” Charlie told him bluntly while Patrick dropped his head into his hand with pure exasperation, but Raleigh seemed to take the blunt admittance with considerable more grace, relaxing slightly and watching his father raptly. “But that was never on purpose. Maybe you shouldn’t aim for a purposeful try this time, don’t you think?”

Raleigh’s expression turned mulish. “I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do,” Patrick returned. “Your boyfriend’s entirely too nice. Charlie would have cut my dick off and fed it to me.”

“Gross,” Raleigh deadpanned, rolling his eyes before spotting Aubrey. He stilled and swallowed nervously, finger twirling a lock of hair around as he watched Aubrey with wide eyes and undisguised anxiety.

Charlie turned to see what had Raleigh so transfixed and raised his eyebrows before turning to Patrick who stared at the ceiling and tried to keep the smugness of his face. Charlie swatted his husband in the side. Ignoring them all, Aubrey bridged the distance between him and Raleigh, grabbing his hands gently and tugging him closer to press a quick kiss to his lips that spoke volumes about how he wasn’t angry. Raleigh flushed and smiled softly while Aubrey shook his head.

“Your sister wants you.”

“Right,” Raleigh nodded, giving Aubrey another kiss before he moved to walk away. He stopped after a couple steps and looked back at Aubrey hesitantly. “We’ll talk about this later?”

“Course, babe.” Raleigh smiled slightly and nodded before walking away again looking a little less nervous. Aubrey turned to look at his boyfriend’s parents, raising his eyebrows.

Charlie sighed and met Aubrey’s gaze levelly, “He won’t be an idiot forever.”

Aubrey crooked an eyebrow before saying haltingly, “But he’s a _man_. You underestimate this gender.”

“You _over_ estimate the kid you raised,” Patrick huffed.

Charlie balked and turned to him, “Oh, so now he’s _my_ son. Who pretended he was straight for years so he wouldn’t have to go out with me?”

“That’s _not_ what happened, Chazza!” Patrick returned, throwing up his arms. Aubrey laughed and shook his head.

* * *

When Raleigh reached his sister’s room, he found Cherokee curled up into Salem’s on the small sofa, a pair of headphones in Salem’s ears as he typed swiftly with only one hand, the other arm through around Cherokee’s shoulders and holding her close to his side. Aspen sat cross-legged beneath the covers in one of Bailey’s old Arsenal hoodies, regarding him cautiously as show popped back a series of Sour Patch kids with a blank expression on her face, like she wasn’t seeing him at all.

“Aspen,” Raleigh started uncertainly.

His sister’s gaze focused on him, and a careful smile crossed her face. “Hey munchkin.”

“You weren’t even alive when I got that nickname,” Raleigh grumbled as he crossed the room to drop onto the bed beside her, wrapping her in his arms tightly.

“Yeah, but I was alive when you got the nickname ‘America’s Newest Sex Symbol,’” Aspen sniggered.

Raleigh grimaced, “Never mind. Munchkin it is.”

She laughed quietly, letting him stealing a Sour Patch Kid.

They remained like that for a moment, with their arms wrapped around each other and their backs resting against the hard plastic headboard, the low thrum of Salem’s bass-heavy music drifting from his headphones. They sat so close together that Raleigh felt it when she started to tremble, felt the shaking of her shoulders when her trembling gave away to sobs. Still, he didn’t speak, pulling her tighter against his chest and letting his frail sister curl up in his lap and cry.

Raleigh barely noticed when Salem hauled up Cherokee and slipped from the room with a quick, two-fingered wave, sliding the door closed behind him.

“You’re not going to ask me how I _feel_?” Aspen sat bitterly as she leaned away, furiously wiping away tears from her eyes.

“You feel like crap, I assume,” Raleigh replied evenly. “Why? Do you want me to ask how you feel?”

Aspen shot him a venomous look that didn’t quell him in the slightest. She had her breakdowns sparingly and usually with their dad or Cherokee, but Raleigh knew she had them and knew that they got positively scathing. He didn’t blame her for being angry. _He_ was angry.

“I’m disgusting.”

“You’re dying of acute myeloid leukemia. Let’s not get dramatic,” Raleigh said dryly.

“I. Am. _Disgusting_ ,” Aspen hissed at him, a voice so heartbreaking vicious and unerringly serious that Raleigh drew back in surprise. He blinked and shook his head slightly, frowning with confusion. She laughed harshly. “I’m practically a skeleton. I have bruises on practically every surface of my body. I vomit every day, multiple times a day. I’m so weak the nurses were afraid I’d hurt myself trying to go to the bathroom so I have in a catheter. My breath stinks. My skin’s yellow. I have bangs under my eye the color of charcoal. And my…my hair fell out Raleigh. I have no hair. You know I wanted to dye it pink? When I went to high school. That’s what I told Uncle Bailey. Dad and Papa said I could. What hair, though? I don’t _have_ any hair! Or any muscle mass! Or any dignity! Or any f-f-future,” Aspen broke down again, collapsing against Raleigh and hyperventilating.

He floundered for a moment, horrified by his sister’s systematic destruction of her self-worth before finding his footing again. Tugging at the cherry atop her hat, Raleigh smiled at her gently at he met her eyes. “You’re beautiful, Aspen,” she started to shake her head when he cut her off. “When you were born Uncle Salem took me to the hospital to see you. Dad and Papa had practically slept there, but I stayed at home because I’d had filming all week. They called us at three am, and Salem yanked me out of bed and tossed me in the car while Uncle Bailey tried to feed me oatmeal on our way out the door. And when I got there, dad was sitting in this awful diamond patterned hospital chair with you in this little white blanket with a pink beanie. And I thought you were asleep, but I still wanted to see you so dad had me sit down and papa showed me how to hold you and then they put you in my arms and you opened your eyes. And you didn’t cry, you just looked up at me, and I thought you were the best and most beautiful thing in the whole world.”

“Yeah?” Aspen whispered with tears in her eyes.

“Yeah,” Raleigh told her, not quite able to hold back his own welling tears. “You’ve always been beautiful Aspen. Being sick and in pain doesn’t make you any less beautiful. You’re so strong, and you always have been. I know you’re scared and you’re sad and angry, but you can’t be angry with _you_.”

Aspen laughed bitterly and shook her head with a furious curve to her lips. “Do you even know what cancer is? It’s _me_. _My_ body. _My_ cells. Killing me.”

Raleigh nodded, “Right, you gonna go have a talk with them? Tell them to get their shit together and stop dropping lines in the middle of a scene?” Aspen rolled her teary eyes while he grinned and tugged one of the strings of her sweatshirt until she swatted him away. “Cancer is one mistake.” He shrugged sheepishly, “One _cellular_ mistake that’s killing you.”

“Is this the part where you say ‘we’re the sum of our mistakes and they all kill us in the end?’”

“Jesus Christ, I’m not _Harry_ ,” Raleigh balked, making Aspen giggle delightedly. He flicked her in the forehead, and she huffed, pressing her lips together and glaring at him when he smiled at her angelically. “I don’t know what I’m saying. I’m just talking a lot of shit, because that’s I do with pretty girls and dying girls. And you’re both.”

“I’m your sister. Stop flirting with me,” Aspen sighed, her lips twitching and revealing her amusement.

Raleigh leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek while she moaned in disgust and weakly tried to push him away. “Stop flirting? Not even possible,” Raleigh deadpanned, laughing when she grabbed her pillow and smacked him in the head with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just cry every time I write Aspen. She's just tired and broken and sick and angry but she wants to be strong for her family. I just...ugh. Okay.


	5. "Work From Home" by Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dolla $ign

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raleigh and Aubrey talk it out over glorious food truck concoctions

**Salem Petrov (@Salem_Daiki)**

@ArthurBailey what do you teach this child? She can put away a dumpster.

 

**Arthur Bailey (@ArthurBailey)**

@Salem_Daiki you’d better not be talking trash about my baby girl @drawmecherokee

 

**Cherokee Beck (@drawmecherokee)**

@ArthurBailey he is! I’m gonna cry :’(

 

**Arthur Bailey (@ArthurBailey)**

That’s it! I want a divorce @Salem_Daiki

 

**Salem Petrov (@Salem_Daiki)**

@ArthurBailey then who’s going to keep you in the lap of luxury?

 

**Text message to Cameron**

**Cameron:** When’s your sister’s hospital-Prom thing?

**Raleigh:** Can I ask why you want that info?

**Raleigh:** Are you coming?

**Raleigh:** I thought Bailey was bringing you…

**Cameron:** It’s not for me.

**Raleigh:** Fuck outta here. Are you bringing a date?

**Cameron:** Info…please…Raleigh…

**Raleigh:** Who is it? Do I know him? Is it serious?

**Raleigh:** Give me something!!!!!!

**Cameron:** He’s male.

**Raleigh:** -_-

**Raleigh:** 3days @ the hospital. Starts at 1900.

**Raleigh:** He better be sexy for the amount of secrecy involved.

 

**Partyboy Raleigh Beck spurns pregnant ex and unborn child!**

In the almost two weeks since Beck’s former lover, popstar Kezi Tannenbaum announced her pregnancy and all but named Beck as the father, Beck seems to have gone to ground. The hotshot actor fled to LA with close friends and family on the heels of the announcement and the backlash from fans. However, rumor has it that Beck has known about the pregnancy for nearly as long as Tannenbaum and that he may not have only broken up with her over it but also hooked up with numerous friends of his ex. Just days after Kezi revealed she had the pregnancy confirmed by her doctor and reportedly told Beck, the actor was spotted in Malibu club, Osiris, partying alongside Kezi’s longtime friend and Nigerian-born model, Abua Layeni, and allegedly spent the night with her as the pair were spotted getting breakfast not far from Layeni’s hotel the next day. “It’s really hurt Kezi, that he’s refusing to accept responsibility, but she’s trying to reason with him,” a source close to the popstar said. Hopefully with time and help from his family, the marvelous young actor will step up and take responsibility.

**Comments:**

**mylittlemunchkin:** Ok…is anyone actually buying this? Not Raleigh sleeping with Kezi Tannenbaum, but, like, literally EVERYTHING else?

**Raleigh_the_bae:** Yeah this is a kid who was abandoned by his mother in a grocery store after months of neglect and maltreatment…I just…don’t think so…at all

**anonymous:** Abua Layeni is Raleigh’s cousin!!!!! They’ve known each other way longer than Abua and Kezi.

**lightscameraraleigh:** Yeah…she’s the eldest adopted daughter of Charlie Beck’s half brother, Jarek, and his wife Lorraine…I’m…research anyone?

**madame_JJ:** That doesn’t mean he’s not screwing her. They’re not blood related.

**beckclanbabies:** Please stop. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

**anonymous:** I’m calling it now. Not his kid and he already knows methinks.

 

**Abua Layeni (@abua_layeni)**

@Raleigh_Beck I’m…… O.0

 

**Raleigh Beck (@Raleigh_Beck)**

@abua_layeni honestly, same #whatmadnessisthis

 

To: raleighkylobeck@gmail.com; aubreygrayson203@gmail.co.uk

From: ladylibbyharbourne@gmail.co.uk

Subject: Aspen’s Prom

Raleigh,

Your sister told me that she would be handling Aspen’s dress (this is my prayed it is so), but after for both your and Aubrey’s suits, I handled it. I’ll be landing in however many hours as Fitz and I are currently sitting in our seats on the plane waiting for takeoff. We’ll be there soon, suits in hand, so don’t stress anymore than you already are.

Love you dearly

Gran.

 

**Text message to Aunt Allegra**

**Raleigh:** I need a favor.

**Aunt Allegra:** Go for it babes.

**Raleigh:** I need to come in for a cut.

**Aunt Allegra:** A trim?

**Raleigh:** Of a sort. And a dye. It may take a minute.

**Aunt Allegra:** When do you need this cut?

**Raleigh:** Soon but not too soon. I’ll be bringing by a friend.

**Aunt Allegra:** Who?

**Raleigh:** Lionel Maracas. He’s a hair stylist from my last movie.

**Aunt Allegra:** Jesus. Shit’s never boring with you around, Raleigh.

 

To: raleighkylobeck@gmail.com

From: lionel.maracas@gmail.com

Subject: RE: I need your help

Hypothetically, yes I can do it. And you’re lucky I like you Raleigh. You’re lucky we’re friends. You’re a pain in my ass, but I’m a kind-hearted, warm, and generous soul, so yes I can do it. And yes you will pay me an obscene amount of money for it. Just so we’re both aware.

I hate you already,

Lionel

 

**Text message to Harry**

**Raleigh:** Heads up I’m taking Aubrey on a date tonight.

**Harry:** …thank you for tell me that was very mature of you.

**Raleigh:** I’m only telling you because we’re going to the Food Truck Festival.

**Raleigh:** I’ll be spotted. Paparazzi will come.

**Raleigh:** I will be holding his hand over a picnic table because this is a makeup date for me being a fuck awful boyfriend and getting into a pregnant stunt with my ex one night stand.

**Harry:** Somedays I actually want to throttle you.

**Harry:** You were such a good kid. What happened?

**Raleigh:** Puberty and hormones.

**Harry:** Stop talking dear god I beg you.

* * *

“ _Dubai_ .”

“Dubai?”

“ _Dubai, UAE, in the Mid-East. Your turn_.”

“Um…Egypt.”

“ _Oh, okay, but honestly, I think that’s just you wanting to act upon your deeply buried desires to play out scene from The Mummy. Which I hate by the way, and will not watch with you,_ ” Aubrey grinned at Raleigh roguishly, raising his eyebrows as he took a sip of his bubble tea and tapped his immaculate fingernail on the top of the wooden picnic table.

They both ignored the whispers and the side-eyed looks and the girls discreetly snapping photos of them on their mobiles phones. Salem had sent him a text message – a random, out of the blue text message because how did Salem even get some of the information he found – about whether he wanted to delete all the photos of the pair of them from people’s phones.

Bailey had sent a subsequent text message telling Raleigh to tell Salem that that was illegal, and how the hell was it even _possible_. They were probably in the same room, but Salem’s response (to a message Raleigh never _sent_ but he wouldn’t think about that) was to tell Bailey not to ask crazy ass questions, of course it was possible if he’d suggested it and honestly who would ever find out?

Raleigh and Bailey both agreed someone probably would, but instead Raleigh had simply gracefully declined the well-meant offer from his godfather.

Raleigh had nothing but fond memories of food trucks, preferred them, in fact, over most sit down restaurants. Salem had sent him a link to a blog dedicated entirely to sighting of him eating a food trucks – an admirable pastime if there ever was one. It had been a go-to adventure when his family had moved to LA from London, though his memory of that time was spotty at best. He had a vague recollection of eating bizarre tacos on the beach when his papa was first teaching him how to surf while his dad sat on the blanket taking pictures and calling out to them.

That had been ages ago, though.

Aubrey hadn’t had nearly as much experience with them as he’d grown up five thousand miles away in London, which had food trucks but not nearly on the scale (or of such high quality) as in America. The first time Raleigh had stopped at one for a quick pick me up in Washington DC, Aubrey had stared at him blankly and demanded sign language that dripped with shock and contempt, “ _What is_ that _?_ ” One taste of the Indian fushion curry had had Aubrey firmly on the food truck team. Still, Raleigh had an obsessive tendency to only eat healthy – he _liked_ to, much to everyone he loved’s chagrin – except when it came to food truck and traumatic experiences. The first and only time he’d slept with Kezi when he’d been nineteen and drunk off his ass, he’d spent the entire rest of the night at Jack in the Box eating the oddest array of their last dozen chicken nuggets, fries, and sausage croissants from the burgeoning breakfast menu.

It had been the last time Raleigh had gotten _that_ drunk ever again.

Sleeping with psycho Kezi who’d he’d been attracted to but determined not to touch with a ten-foot pole due to strong survival instincts had been a kick in the ass and a bad judgment call, drunk or not.

He was paying for it now, regardless.

Raleigh pointed a finger at Aubrey who sat there blithely sipping his awful, awful tea and watching his raptly. “Listen,” Raleigh started. Aubrey crooked an eyebrow and tapped his hearing aid with a feigned, wounded expression. Raleigh narrowed his eyes, and Aubrey’s smirk grew more pronounced. The lady sitting to the right of his boyfriend gave him an ugly look at his seemingly blasé dismissal of Aubrey’s ‘disability’. Bullshit. Completely and utterly. Aubrey could read lips faster than Raleigh’s lips could read words, and, regardless, he’d accidentally left his hearing aids with Raleigh when he went to a shoot in Chicago six months ago, and he’d managed to keep the photographer, stylists, and makeup artists completely in the dark until Raleigh had shown up bearing half a million dollar earpieces and a horrified expression.

Aubrey didn’t do disability.

“You’re such an asshole. The woman thinks _I’m_ an asshole,” Raleigh tossed her a charming grin, and she huffed, getting to her feet and tugging her thirteen year old son sneaking a picture of Raleigh with her. He waved at the kid as he was tugged away, and the by grinned.

“ _You are an asshole_ ,” Aubrey returned cheerfully, reaching across the table to steal one of Raleigh’s dumplings. He chewed thoughtfully, and Raleigh waited patiently for the inevitable scowl. “ _Is this mushroom and bok choy?_ ”

Raleigh grinned wryly and patted Aubrey’s hand, “I guess you shouldn’t steal other people’s food.” Instead of replying, Aubrey flipped him off, and Raleigh laughed before sighing, watching his boyfriend with welling guilt and uncertainty. Aubrey picked up on his mood change and frowned at him inquisitively. “ _I’ve been a shitty boyfriend, haven’t I?_ ”

“ _Not as bad as you think_.”

“ _But bad._ ”

“ _Your baby sister’s dying from cancer. I don’t blame you for being…a mess,_ ” Aubrey answered frankly.

“ _But you blame me for this thing with Kezi, right?_ ” Raleigh watched carefully as Aubrey stilled and clammed up between one breath and another, opening his meatloaf mac and cheese, sticking his fork in it with lethal force and taking a bite, a clear sign he was done with the whole conversation. Raleigh sighed, “ _I’m sorry, Aubrey_.” Aubrey didn’t even bother to roll his eyes, keeping his face irritatingly stoic. And Raleigh knew he had no right to be upset. Their whole situation had been entirely of his own making for whatever his reasons.

“You’re just like your father,” Salem had told him when he was nineteen and on a bender because Aubrey wouldn’t answer his text messages. “Do you need sex so much you’re willing to risk what could be the best thing that ever happened to you?”

The problem had always been that Raleigh had loved Aubrey from the moment he’d laid eyes on him. Aubrey had been too small and too sickly and too familiar. Irial had been hysterical, Cris, had been unsure, Raleigh’s own parent’s had been trying to talk them down from the ledge, and Raleigh had walked right up to him and bundled him up in a fluffy afghan and his favorite oversized hoodie before pulling him down to cuddle while he’d put on _Star Wars_. To everyone’s shock, Raleigh had tended to Aubrey, fetching food and water and stroking his hair and tightening his blankets without prompting or complaint while the adults had still be trying to figure out how to approach him.

Thousands of miles, Aubrey’s hearing problems, and Raleigh’s chosen career hadn’t stopped that at all. They’d communicated via emails and phones calls and video chats and even letters as they’d grown, and shared a first kiss when Aubrey was twelve and Raleigh was fifteen. That had been where the issues had begun to crop up. The childhood innocence of Raleigh’s complete and utter adoration towards Aubrey had hit its own breaking point and their three-year age different had started to matter, because at fifteen, three years had been a massive void, more so than the ocean separating them. Aubrey was too young for Raleigh’s devotion, and Raleigh was too young to be devoted. And though Raleigh had never told Aubrey (that had been _Salem’s_ doing, though neither he nor Aubrey would ever admit it), Irial Grayson hadn’t been pleased either.

Raleigh remembered his papa eyeing them speculatively when Raleigh had been nine and Aubrey had bullied his parents to bringing him to Raleigh’s Brighton set for a visit. “At this rate, Iri, we’re going to be in-laws within the next two decades.” Irial had laughed, appalled, and Patrick and Cris had exchanged a pointed look and sipped their drinks without comment. When Raleigh turned fifteen, Irial had been singing an entirely different tune, pulling Raleigh aside to tell him that Aubrey was too young for a serious relationship and for what Raleigh wanted to do with him. Raleigh hadn’t quite understood the connotation of the discussion, but he had taken the overall message to heart.

A month later, Raleigh had been back at high school and on the cover of a magazine with his tongue down Marilyn Laroche’s throat. Aubrey had sent him a single, succinct text message that demanded to know why he hadn’t told him about his girlfriend. Raleigh had replied that it was just a kiss and he didn’t have a girlfriend…three weeks later, he’d had a boyfriend instead and Aubrey had set Raleigh’s favorite sweater on fire and sent him a video that accurately expressed how the twelve-year-old felt about the situation.

Nothing had gotten better from there.

He’d had an endless string of boyfriends and girlfriends until he’d graduated, then moved on to an equally endless round of one night stands that he occasionally saw more than once, was labeled as ‘dating,’ and led to him being stonewalled by Aubrey for weeks at a time until he confessed to the press that whoever he’d been rumored to be with was nothing more than a ‘close friend.’ Aubrey had fumed silently, but he’d start talking to Raleigh again, which was about as much as Raleigh could ask for.

Thing had hit their peak when Aubrey turned sixteen, signed with a modeling agency, and moved to New York. Irial had swallowed his pride and had _Cris_ call and ask Raleigh to check on him since he’d be the most well received. And even though Raleigh had sworn he wouldn’t, a heated argument and Aubrey being on the verge of tears as he demanded to know why he wasn’t good enough had led to them making out for hours because, guilt or no guilt, regret or no regret, Raleigh was not going to take Aubrey’s virginity when he’d been on the verge of tears, furious, and absolutely certain that Raleigh had thought he wasn’t good enough to be with.

And for the first time in his life, Raleigh had actually wooed someone. For _months_. For five _grueling_ months.

It had been absolutely worth it.

Kezi had been an oversight that had happened literally a day before Raleigh had gone to see Aubrey, and even though they hadn’t technically been together, Aubrey held it as a personal slight (the way he’d always held all of Raleigh’s sexual partners). And even though Raleigh knew it _wasn’t_ cheating…it still felt like it was.

Sighing, Aubrey dropped his fork in his food and met Raleigh’s eyes steadily. “ _I’m petty._ ” Raleigh blinked in surprise, taken utterly aback by the forthright statement. Aubrey carried on, “ _And possessive. Everyone we know thinks you’re like this evil, manipulative asshole, but honestly, I think we both know that between the pair of us, I’m definitely Loki and you’re Thor._ ”

Raleigh felt himself grinning as he shook his head. “ _I can’t believe you ship Thorki. Still. How disturbing._ ”

“ _They’re not related. Don’t change the subject._ ”

“ _They were raised as brothers._ ” Raleigh insisted, horrified. “ _I mean you and Virgil aren’t technically related. Would you date him?_ ”

“ _Would you? We both know that of the pair of us, you’re way more likely to fuck around._ ” Aubrey told him. It had been meant viciously or even signed that way, but that didn’t stop Raleigh from wincing and sighing. Aubrey being demisexual had almost always been a point of contention, because Raleigh had been an ordinary, horny teenager and had acted on it. Aubrey had been attracted to Raleigh and Raleigh only and had had to watch him sleep with the entirety of planet earth. Aubrey sighed, “ _That was bad. I shouldn’t have said that._ ”

He might have had a pointed about that Thor/Loki thing.

Raleigh had always been the golden child. People loved him. Paps loved him. Fans loved him. The press loved him. It was a complete façade. He had a lot of acquaintances and a tiny group of close friends (all of whom he’d met through his parents’ close friends) who could stand him, because he was harsh and single-minded and controlling and manipulative. Aubrey smiled through it all and pretended he was some kind of shrinking violet, which was an even bigger lie than Raleigh’s masquerade. If Raleigh was manipulative, Aubrey was a mastermind. He played people like chessboards so well that no one even noticed. Half the reason Raleigh thought they fixated on each other was because they either couldn’t or wouldn’t play those kinds of games with each other.

Irial had compared them to Jelena Howard and Terrence Wall.

Salem had scoffed and said, “More like Chuck and Blair.”

To which Charlie had raised, “Frank and Claire Underwood.”

Even Cris had pitched in by admitting, “Veronica and JD from the _Heathers_.” To which even Bailey had asked, “The who?”

Raleigh smiled at him, “ _I love you_.”

“ _You piss me off_ ,” Aubrey answered with a mulish expression, stabbing another noodle with his fork. “ _And give good sex_.” At Raleigh’s look, Aubrey sighed and nodded, “ _I hate Kezi. I’ll always hate Kezi. And until this stunt goes the fuck away and dies in a blaze of glory, I’m going to mildly hate you at all times always. It doesn’t mean I don’t love you, but we’re not our parents. I’m not going to lie and pretend I’m okay with this stunt._ ”

Raleigh nodded before admitting softly, hesitantly, with trembling fingers, “ _It’ll be done soon._ ”

Aubrey stilled and looked up, meeting Raleigh’s gaze directly.

Before he could say anything, Raleigh shook his head and signed quickly, “ _Are you coming to the dance?_ ” It was an obvious avoidance of the emotion he’d been releasing in small doses for days, but Aubrey didn’t call him on it.

“ _Of course, but you know that. I’m Aspen’s date._ ”

And, okay, Raleigh hadn’t known _that_.

“ _I think my sister’s crush on you makes me very uncomfortable._ ”

“ _I think Kezi’s obvious hard-on for you makes me very uncomfortable. We all have to live with discomfort the way we have to live with social conventions like small talk and socializing and listening to people wax poetic about the glories of sex._ ”

Raleigh rolled his eyes and pointed a finger at Aubrey. “ _Are you trying to say you don’t like sex?_ ”

Aubrey waved a hand dismissively. “ _It’s not even about that. It’s about listening to these models the other day go on and on and on about how sex is life and sex is the be all end all and how can people live without sex? Actually, people don’t need sex. It’s not really an imperative. It’s not oxygen or water. The only reason it feels as good as it does is to ensure the continuation of the species._ ”

Pausing, Raleigh straightened and narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend suspiciously. “ _Have you been reading those weird science books that your father has stashed in his studio? This sounds suspiciously Darwinian._ ”

With a lazy half smile, Aubrey took another sip of his bubble tea and raised his eyebrows. “ _Sorry, should I stop with the science? I know intelligence has never really been your thing._ ”

Narrowing his eyes, Raleigh leaned across the table towards him while Aubrey watched with a genial and haughty look on his face. “ _You have always been my thing, love._ ”

Aubrey gave him a dangerous smile, “ _Me and getting your dick wet._ ”

Ouch. Aubrey was going all-in tonight, but it didn’t totally surprise Raleigh. He’d never done well with other people in Raleigh’s life romantically or sexually. And Kezi managed to hit every one of his nerves without even breathing in his direction. Aubrey wouldn’t let up until the stunt was done. It wouldn’t be the first time, and if Raleigh ever bothered to look deeply into it, he liked when Aubrey got mean…his therapist would probably have a hell of a lot to say about that.

“ _It was only ever just sex, Aubrey,_ ” Raleigh cooed sweetly as much as one could while talking with their hands.

His boyfriend’s eyes flashed furiously, “ _Not to me._ ”

“ _You know you’re it for me,_ ” Raleigh returned simply, reaching out to cup Aubrey’s face in his hand, heedless of their very public location. Either Harry would take care of it or Salem would in any case. It wouldn’t be the first time, and he hardly doubted it’d be the last.

Aubrey pressed his lips together in a hardline even as his eyes lit, fighting a smile. “ _You’re lucky I love you._ ”

Raleigh smiled at him brightly. _Yeah, actually,_ he thought to himself, _I absolutely am._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen, ya'll, I have a confession: ship Thorki. I mean I love Jane but I ship Thorki. However, I entirely blame Odin (and Thor) for Loki's movie-behavior. Thor was like the worst brother ever and mean. And everyone was mean to Loki and lied and taught him how to hate what he was before springing it on him. What kind of dick move is that?...excuse my rant.
> 
> I have never seen the Heathers, but I am going to because I hear it's my kind of thing. Gory and darkly romantic, which you probably wouldn't get from reading these because they're so fucking fluffy, but you should see the other shit I write. It's very mythology-happy with a dark of assassins in love...let's pretend I didn't say that.
> 
> I don't think Darwin ever wrote about sex in those terms, but I'm sure someone has mentioned sex isn't a biological imperative just like I'm sure some scientist somewhere made asexuals' lives miserable by saying it is. And for anyone who doesn't know, I'm ace (thought I was demi for a while but I'm realizing, yeah, hahaha, no.) Aubrey is demisexual, which is on the asexuality spectrum and essentially means that the person doesn't feel sexual attraction unless they have a deep connection with another person if ever. So Aubrey has literally never been sexually attracted to anyone else. It's always and only been Raleigh...poor poor boy. I mean I love Raleigh, I created Raleigh, but poor Aubrey. Jesus.


	6. "All of the Stars" by Ed Sheeran

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prom Night

**Text message from Bailey**

**Bailey:** Guess who’s back?

 **Bailey:** Back again…

 **Salem:** It’s John Cena!!!!!

 **Bailey:** -_-

 **Bailey:** It’s been like 20yrs can we retire tht joke. pls

 **Salem:** You tried to use Eminem against me.

 **Salem:** Were you even alive when that song came out?

 **Bailey:** I dmnd a divorce

 **Salem:** You what a what?

 **Salem:** Sorry I can’t hear you over your ghetto grammar.

 

**Aubrey Grayson (@AubreyGray)**

Everyone’s puking up their bowels today #itsofficial #throwupthursday

 

**Raleigh Beck (@Raleigh_Beck)**

@AubreyGray these are the things that happen when we challenge 12yr olds to epic milkshake battles

 

**Aubrey Grayson (@AubreyGray)**

@Raleigh_Beck can you not say that? I don’t want to see satan’s beverage for another 100yrs

 

**RT by @AspenNYC**

**UCLA Health (@UCLAHealth)**

The pediatric onocology prom begins in less than an hour! Thanks to everyone who helped make this possible!

 

**Cherokee Beck (@drawmecherokee)**

I am bingewatching every season of @cw_ethrl #donttelltherents

 

**Arthur Bailey (@ArthurBailey)**

“I am bingewatching every season of @cw_ethrl #donttelltherents” @CharlieBeck @StPatty_

 

**Charles Beck (@CharlieBeck)**

@drawmecherokee next time don’t spill secrets on Twitter…where did we go wrong? Blaming @Salem_Daiki

 

**Salem Petrov (@Salem_Daiki)**

@CharlieBeck…guilty ;)

 

**Patrick Gallagher (@StPatty_)**

And my daughter is watching my sex scene with @DexterCarroll ngl I’m creeped out.

 

**Dexter Carroll (@DexterCarroll)**

@StPatty_ holy shit same. @drawmecherokee try @HistoryVikings instead

 

**Text message to Lionel**

**Raleigh:** You’re out of time. Is it ready?

 **Lionel:** Yes I’ve got a thing though

 **Lionel:** You’ll have to come pick it up

 **Raleigh:** Fuck me. Ok.

 

**Text message to Raleigh**

**Patrick:** I don’t want to nag.

 **Patrick:** But you’re late.

 

**Text message to Raleigh**

**Charlie:** Ok but where are you?

 

**Text message to Raleigh**

**Salem:** Hello? Are you even alive…

 

**Text message to Raleigh**

**Bailey:** You clearly don’t want to see your godfather’s outfit

 **Bailey:** Seriously your fam’s about to blow

 

**Text message to Raleigh**

**Aubrey:** Should I be worried?

 **Aubrey:** Don’t ignore me asshole

 **Aubrey:** I’m divorcing you rn no shit

 **Aubrey:** Raaaaaaaaaaaaleigh

 **Aubrey:** If this is like that time u ignored my urgent message cuz u were screwing a VS model I might actually kill you

 **Aubrey:** Seriously? You’re sister’s trying not to have a panic attack.

 **Aubrey:** Has Timmy fallen down the well?

 **Raleigh:** Have you ever even seen Lassie? Cuz I haven’t. How is that still a common reference in 2038?

 **Raleigh:** I’ll be there soon. Had to pick something up.

 **Raleigh:** & lmao omg ur such a drama queen.

 **Aubrey:** <3 :P

* * *

“He’s late, Aubrey. He’s never late,” Aspen said, her leg bouncing up and down anxiously as she bit her bottom lip. Poppy pulled it out from between her teeth and flicked her cheek gently while Libby tugged on the ends of her bedazzled black beanie.

Aubrey cocked his head and met her eyes with a half-smile on his lips. “He’ll be here. He wouldn’t stand me up.”

Aspen glared at him. “I’m his _sister_.”

“I’m having sex with him,” Aubrey returned evenly, beaming. “I’m scarier, promise.”

Aspen laughed while Libby turned to narrow her eyes at him. Aubrey shrugged and met Aspen’s eyes across the room, winking at her and making her giggle before he met Libby’s challenging gaze. “Really Aubrey?”

“She’s fourteen. Old enough to hear about sex, if she hadn’t before. Have you met your son and son-in-law?”

Miming vomiting, Aspen smirked while Libby glared. “And I’m dying.”

“And she’s dying,” Aubrey agreed cheerfully, getting to his feet to press a kiss to her made-up, rosy cheek. “If she wants to go out and _have_ sex I say have at it. No time like the present.”

Charlie hesitated in the doorway, making Patrick run into his back. He placed his hands on his Charlie’s hips to steady him, peering over his shoulder and narrowing his eyes as they flitted between a smug Aubrey and a laughing Aspen. “She’s fourteen. That’s way too young for sex.”

Charlie tossed his husband a disbelieving look before moving into the room and making his way to Aspen and pressing a kiss to her cheek before hugging his mother and sister in greeting. He plopped down beside Aubrey while Patrick wrapped Aspen in a hug as she unsteadily, uneasily, and shakily rose to her feet.

“How do I look?” Aspen inquired uneasily, her white-lace gloved hands playing awkwardly with the hem of her sparkling hot pink tutu.

“Pink,” Aubrey answered blithely, smiling when she stuck her tongue out at him. “You look beautiful, Aspen.”

“You don’t have to _lie_ ,” Aspen wrinkled her nose and glared.

“Okay, you look like a Chucky in a bejeweled dress…Bride of Chucky? Without the white, bleak. Pale. Sad.” Aubrey intoned. Charlie bit back a laugh while Patrick, Poppy, and Libby glared at him. Aspen flipped him off and huffed, her lips curving up in the slightest semblance of a smile, and he pushed off the wall he leaned against, slapping a kiss to her cheek and resting his chin on her shoulder as he whispered to her quietly, “So lying, then?”

Aspen grinned as Arthur Bailey, draped in head to toe posh British fashion, waltzed into the room followed closely by his boyfriend. He stilled just inside the doorway, raising his eyebrows at Aspen and Aubrey before shaking his head, adjusting floral Alexander McQueen button-up, and tossing his Burberry trench coat onto the sofa. With a wide smile, he crossed the room and swept Aspen into a tight hug, the two of them whispering quietly to each other while Aubrey leaned around them to get a view of Salem who perched on the arm of the sofa with his arm around Libby as he chatted to Poppy, Charlie, and Patrick across the room.

“What are you _wearing_?” Aubrey demanded incredulously, unable to stop himself from blurting out his shock and alarm when his gaze landed on his boyfriend’s godfather.

Salem, knowing exactly who he’d meant, grinned long before his jade eyes shifted from his best friend to Aubrey filled with obvious mirth and more than a little smugness. He suggested lightly, “Clothes?”

In a pair of Alexander McQueen floral print skinny jeans, a cut-off t-shirt picturing Deadpool riding a unicorn over a rainbow, a worn light blue leather bomber jacket, and a pair of knee-high rainbow My Little Pony Converse, Salem looked…colorful…outrageous…um… His hair had been dyed a pale purple that faded to light blue along the edges and twisted up in a messy bun held back by an orange bandana that matched his painted fingernails. A total contrast to his boyfriend’s muted color palette and simple classic fashion choices, which Aubrey had to wonder had been a conscious choice on Bailey’s part. There’s only so much color you could wear when your partner was a walking pride parade.

Charlie laughed into Patrick’s shoulder while Patrick bit his lip to combat his growing smirk as he met Poppy’s eyes. Libby patted Salem’s knee gently even as she shook her head at his tragic fashion choices, and Aubrey turned to Bailey who half sat on the vanity with Aspen leaned into his side.

“I tried,” Bailey defended. “I’ve been trying for years.”

“You’ve made a valiant effort, Bay,” Patrick inserted smoothly while Poppy choked and shook her head.

Bailey nodded sagely, and Charlie agreed by saying, “He’s wearing McQueen.”

“Could you all stop being _completely_ annoying?” Salem demanded without any heat to his tone. “We all have our quirks. I seem to remember wearing a suit for your wedding, Charlie.”

“And that was enough for one lifetime?” Charlie inquired, bemused.

Salem nodded, “It absolutely was. I almost broke out in hives.”

“He went to a business meeting in Yoda pajama bottoms and Crisial shirt the other day,” Bailey told Charlie smoothly while Salem gave his boyfriend a dirty look but didn’t otherwise interject. “And Uggs. It was tragic. I have pictures.”

“So do the whole UK,” Poppy replied. “I seem to remember Maggie Gallagher writing an article about how it was a sign Salem was going mental and preparing to check himself into a hospital and hand the company over to Izumi.”

Salem rolled his eyes. “One day, Maggie Gallagher’s going to write something else that gets my hoard of lawyers sicced on her. Sully’s salivating, waiting for that day. I am too. I despise that woman. No offense, Patty.” Patrick only looked at Salem with no small amount of amusement and half-shrugged in lackadaisical agreement. Salem sat up straight and looked around. “Okay, seriously, is your son even _alive_? Do we have confirmation of his continued state of being?”

Seven pairs of eyes swiveled and landed on Aubrey who stiffened, smiled uneasily, and opened his mouth to respond when the door jerked open to reveal Raleigh.

Everyone gaped.

Raleigh let the door close behind him and stood for a moment, utterly still and surprised to see so many people in the room. He wore a pair of black trousers that clung to the muscles in his legs, a damask patterned blazer, a sheer burnt orange shirt, and pale orange trilby hat perched on top of his head. He clutched a large box in his hands as his hazel eyes skimmed over the room lingering the longest on his sister before landing on Aubrey uneasily.

“You cut off all your hair.”

The blunt comment seemed to relax Raleigh who rolled his eyes and made his way to Aubrey, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. “It’s so short.”

And, okay, that was dramatic. In comparison to his length before, it certainly was, barely brushing his shoulders where before it had reached his waist, but that wasn’t actually _short_. It was short _er_. Aubrey didn’t call him on it besides rolling his eyes, making Raleigh grin and shrug as Aubrey reached up to run his fingers through the curling strands.

“So this is where you were? Off getting your hair cut?”

“Not exactly,” Raleigh remarked shiftily. “I also got it dyed.”

“Dyed…why?”

Raleigh’s eyes moved from Aubrey’s to Aspen’s. The whole room stilled, looking between the pair of siblings with heightened apprehension. Glancing briefly back at Aubrey, nervously, and even though Aubrey didn’t quite understand _why_ his boyfriend looked on the verge of passing, Aubrey gave him a reassuring nod and squeezed Raleigh’s hip gently before prodding him towards the teenaged girl waiting for him.

His fingers fumbled with the ribbon wrapped around the box as he took a hesitant step forward, one after the other. Bailey sidled up to Aubrey, stepping away from the girl he loved like a daughter to let her have an uninterrupted moment with her favorite and only brother. Both of them fiddling with the fabric of their clothes anxiously like a pair of teenagers going on their first date, but that seemed to be half the battle, truthfully, Raleigh no longer knew how to approach his sister, now that she was in a place and headspace that he never had been, Aspen no longer felt confidence reaching out in consequence to everyone’s tentativeness towards reaching out to her.

Stopping in front of her, Raleigh rolled back his shoulders and tilted up his chin with falsified determination. He cleared his throat, and Aspen half-smiled sweetly, shaking her head and blinking up at her brother as she reached out to punch him lightly on the shoulder, her eyes bright with unshed tears. She tugged on the lapel of Raleigh’s jacket and tilted up her head to look at him through her eyelashes.

“You look…like…a model. Like _papa_. You suck. Can’t you ever look like a freaking pleb?”

“Nah, that’s what Cher’s for. You and I carry on the family legacy of looking good,” he nudged her, making her laugh before he expression sobered, fingers clenched around the box. Aubrey cocked his head and frowned at it before everything clicked together in his head in understanding. “I…here.”

Raleigh practically shoved the box into his sister’s arms, stepping back and reaching out absently for Aubrey who caught his hand and laced their fingers together. He remained where he stood, though, allowing Raleigh and Aspen to have their moment without any interference.

Eyeing her brother carefully, Aspen sat the box down on the table and undid the ribbon tentatively. Charlie, it seemed, had figured it out and had risen to collapse against Patrick, tears streaming freely from his eyes while Salem held his hand with a smile tinged with sadness and Poppy patted her brother’s back, no less hysterical. Bailey, of all them, seemed composed, stoic even, jaw clenched as he rested a hand on Aubrey’s shoulder and squeezed hard enough for it to be painful, but Aubrey allowed it, his bones creaking painfully between Raleigh’s death grip on his hand and Bailey’s fingers biting in his shoulder.

Aspen’s breath caught her throat as she extracted a beautifully made wig of Raleigh’s wavy formerly inky locks dyed a soft, bubblegum pink and dotted with sparkling threads of crystals that winked light with every movement of the delicate but finely made piece. With wide-eyes and silent tears, Aspen clutched the wig gently to her chest and stared up at her brother, speechless.

Raleigh cleared his throat and shifted uneasily, uncomfortable the attention and awe his sister regarded him with. “I know you said you wanted pink hair…I had hair. I mean it wasn’t a huge loss to make it pink.”

“And give it to me,” Aspen laughed quietly.

He shrugged awkwardly, “I mean yeah.”

A strangled sob proceeded her launching herself into Raleigh’s arms. For a moment, they stood off to the side, clutching each other tightly and profusely trying to pretend like they both weren’t crying.

The moment ended when Cherokee threw open the door, keeping her grip on the handle as she leaned against the door. The youngest Beck looked impossibly more of a disaster than Salem who beamed happily at her black on black on black ensemble of a shapeless bell-sleeved dress that fell mid-thigh, a quilted motocross jacket, and knit tights tucked into a pair of knee-high converse. A beanie had been pulled over her hair, and her eyebrows rose as she took in her siblings.

“Models to the runway, if you please.” The pair of them drew apart, laughing as they looked at their younger sister. Cherokee fought a smile by pressing her lips together in a hard line as she said tonelessly, “Sentiment.”

“ _Thor_!” Salem declared, wiping away tears quickly.

“I think it might be from _Thor: The Dark World_.” Bailey pointed out, finally releasing Aubrey who breathed a sigh of relief, rolling his bruised shoulder discreetly. Not discreetly enough, though, given Bailey’s apologetic grimace and placating shoulder pat.

Cherokee glanced between all the adults in confusion.

“The _Avengers_ , idiots, the _Avengers_ ,” Poppy said sagely while Patrick nodded in agreement, his hand rubbing his husband’s back soothingly as Salem and Bailey start arguing with her.

“The fuck. Are they speaking English?” Cherokee asked her siblings desperately, halting conversation.

“Where did we go wrong?” Patrick lamented.

“When you neglected her cinematic education,” Salem huffed. “We’re stealing her. All summer if we have to. Until she’s up-to-date.”

Cherokee glanced around before shaking her head and waltzing from the room without a single response.

Raleigh looked at Aspen, clearing his throat as Libby came over to help her settle the wig on her head. “You know, I also put a flask of that rose champagne you solemnly swear you don’t drink in that box.” Aspen grinned, and Libby narrowed her eyes on Patrick and Charlie whose only response to that was laughter.

Aubrey agreed. Aspen was dying, no reason _not_ to get drunk. It’s not like it would affect her liver or mental health in the long run.

* * *

Raleigh leaned against the wall sipping his spiked punch and watching as his family danced to the pop music pounding through the stereo speakers of the hospital’s biggest conference room. Cherokee and their dad danced – terribly – beside Charlie, Salem, and Bailey who stood clustered together doing more drinking than dancing (Salem swore that that was not cocktails in their glasses but then he’d also said that about their ‘all natural cigarettes’ six years previous), Aunt Poppy slowed danced to fast music as she talked softly with her husband, Dean, while his two sets of grandparents pretended to actually know how to swing dance (they weren’t  _that_ old). The biggest draw, though, was where Aspen laughed delightedly as Aubrey whirled her around and dipped her as he whispered something lowly, grinning.

A slow smile spread across his face as his drink was lifted out of his hand and tossed back with a roguish grin and a pained look in the depths of his eyes.

“You’re alive,” Raleigh told the man who had become one of his closest friends evenly.

Cameron narrowed his eyes on Raleigh before frowning into the depths of the empty cup. “You have more?”

He shrugged, watching ambivalently as Cameron refilled the plastic cup and held it out to Raleigh with a questioning grin. Raleigh rolled his eyes but drew the small flask of vodka out of his pocket and pouring a few ounces in. Cameron took a sip and seemed to wilt with exaggerated relief that didn’t impress Raleigh in the slightest.

“Drama queen.”

“You love me.”

“I remember being promised a meeting with your mystery lover.”

Cameron scowled, “Can you _not_ say it like that?”

Raleigh laughed, “You’re so immature, Cameron.”

“We can’t all grow up with oversexed parents and a steady supply of smutty 18th century literature.”

“I know,” Raleigh agreed with a smile. “I’m just lucky, I guess.”

“Lucky you didn’t catch an STD…oh wait.” Raleigh gave him a dark look that only made Cameron laugh and shrug. “You deserved that.”

A familiar, lithe figure appeared behind Cameron, wrapping his arms around the former footballer’s waist and pressing a kiss to the nape of his neck. Cameron melted into the touch instead of tensing and shying away as was his usual MO with casual hookups…which meant _this_ wasn’t casual.

Raleigh gaped, “Look this is all getting very…intertwined for me. Hi, Uncle Dante. How are you? You know how I am right now? Weirded out. You’re dating my best friend, Bailey’s protégé who’s dating Salem my papa’s ex-boyfriend. And my sister has a crush on my boyfriend and apparently my aunt used to have sex with my second cousin.”

Uncle Dante balked for a minute, blinking slowly and shaking his head before saying, “Wow. Okay. TMI, Raleigh. I’m like barely thirty and we met through work so could you, maybe, chill?”

“Probably not,” Raleigh admitted, eyeing them uncomfortably for a moment while Cameron rolled his eyes at Raleigh and mouthed, ‘Who’s immature now?’ And, well, still _Cameron_ for having the audacity to ask that, but Raleigh didn’t say so. Instead he chose to frown and ask, “How does a chef meet a footballer through work?”

“When my restaurant caters an event.”

“So this was awhile ago,” Raleigh glared at Cameron, personally offended by being blindsided.

Cameron held up his hands as Uncle Dante rolled his eyes, “I’m sorry is this an interrogation? I forgot when you stopped being an actor to become an FBI agent.”

“Actually, I’m a certified Sith Lord now. How my ass taste?” Raleigh retorted.   

“Whoa, I entered this conversation at a weird moment. I can go if you want,” Aubrey said as he sidled up, cheeks flushed and breathless from dancing.

Raleigh grinned at him, wrapping an arm around his waist and reeling him in for a lingering kiss. “No, no, I’m just being disturbed. Critically for the rest of my life.”

“Too late,” Aubrey told him drolly, smirking as he kissed Raleigh quickly. “Your sister wants a dance, and I want to go home. I’m partied out. Do you have alcohol? Or a joint? Either of those things?”

“Excuse you, I would never bring marijuana to a child’s cancer prom,” Raleigh sniffed.

“So, yes to both then,” Cameron pointed out as Raleigh flipped him off without looking.

Raleigh tossed his boyfriend the flask with one hand and reached out to run the tips of his fingers over the volume controls of his hearing aids pointedly. Aubrey quirked an eyebrow and Raleigh kissed him. “Go drink with my best friend and my uncle, my best friend’s lover, with your hearing aids turned off so you can ignore the world. Half an hour, then we’ll go home, smoke weed, and you can fuck me until we both pass out. Cool?” Raleigh tossed.

Aubrey’s lips curved into a sultry smile as he drew Raleigh in for another kiss, biting his lip and nodding. Raleigh turned down his boyfriend’s hearing aids as the man rolled his eyes before making his way through the crowd towards his sister, grabbing her hand and tugging her into his arms abruptly.

“Hey peanut, howzit?” Aspen laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck as the song transitioned into something slower, and they swayed for a moment to the music, both of them soaking in the moment knowing only one of them would have to hold onto it with a sense of nostalgia and grief for any degree of time. It was worth it, though, he thought, to get to see her so happy. “You look beautiful, you know. Pink’s your color.”

“The hair or the dress?”

“Can’t it be both?”

“Only if we’re pretending you don’t hate hot pink, and Aubrey and I agreed on a strict no lying policy,” Aspen told him.

“Well…it’s a nice design.”

“It’s Cherokee’s.”

“Like I said,” Raleigh returned lightly, grinning. He looked down at her and sighed. Aspen raised her eyebrows questioningly, and Raleigh admitted softly, “I’m always going to regret working so much, not being home as much as I could have been, not knowing you as well as I should.”

Aspen smiled weakly, humorlessly, wanly but not unhappily. “I’m not going to regret anything.”

“I’m kind of jealous,” Raleigh admitted.

“Don’t be,” Aspen whispered, her voice serious and steely, “I’m not.” She was talking about more than just regret, he knew, but neither of them elaborated or needed to beyond a single long followed by an impish smile and the brandishing of pale pink, bejeweled flask, “Champagne, brother mine?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really super late. I apologize. However, I have watched the Heathers (that movie is badass), and still need to write the last chapter of this story.
> 
> Lord help me. Have a good Thursday everyone!


	7. "If I Could Fly" by One Direction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raleigh frets over being a bad brother, and Irial gets honest with Raleigh at, you know, a funereal

**Aspen Beck (@AspenNYC)**

Apparently I’m being super morbid playing If I Die Young on repeat…

 

**Salem Petrov (@Salem_Daiki)**

@AspenNYC no shit Sherlock O.0

 

**Text message to Aubrey**

**Cris:** How’s Aspen?

 **Aubrey:** I doubt she’ll make it thru the nite.

 **Cris:** U with Raleigh?

 **Aubrey:** We’re crashing with Cherokee and their cousins in the living room

 **Cris:** Ur dad and I will be down soon

 **Aubrey:** Tell dad to play nice with my bf

 **Aubrey:** He’s fragile.

 **Cris:** Have you ever met ur dad?

 

To: Preferred press

From: haroldbsterling@sterlingandireland.co.uk

Subject: Official Press Release – Aspen Beck

Final draft of the official Beck family press release regarding the death of their daughter:

“Aspen Norah Beck passed away late last night after nine years struggle with acute myeloid leukemia. The family asks for respect and privacy as they mourn.”

Harry Benton-Sterling

CEO, Sterling & Ireland

 

**Charles Beck (@CharlieBeck)**

Thank you to all our family helping us through everything and lending us your strength.

 

**Patrick Gallagher (@StPatty_)**

Today we lost our beautiful baby girl but thanks to all our family for all their support

 

**Arthur Bailey (@ArthurBailey)**

My goddaughter died today from AML. Prayers to her family @CharlieBeck @StPatty_ @Raleigh_Beck @drawmecherokee

 

To: margaret.gallager@unmaskedmag.co.uk

From: ificouldfly@gmail.com

Subject: You want to read this.

I have something you’ll probably be interested in.

Best,

A

 

**Kezi Tannenbaum blackmails Raleigh Beck as sister dies!**

For weeks popstar, Kezi Tannenbaum, has insinuated in no small measure that Raleigh Beck is the father of her unborn child. In her most recent interview with Irial Dorian and Cherrie Taylor on Dorian Speaks, she told the hosts, “I’ve never had any doubts regarding the consequences of what happened between Raleigh and me. Actions have consequences, and at some point we all have to pay for our mistakes.” Less than twenty-four hours ago, it was revealed that Beck’s younger sister, Aspen, has been suffering from Acute Myeloid Leukemia and succumbed mere hours ago. Now a source says that not only did Tannenbaum know about the Beck family troubles (and willing dragged him through the press as a lowlife, neglectful, child-abandoning manwhore), but that throughout this she knew Tannenbaum wasn’t the father of her unborn baby – as did Beck – because the pair haven’t slept together in three years! According to a number of text messages and emails, Tannenbaum told best friend and Victoria’s Secret model, Lila Simpson, “It’s payback for him rejecting me for ages and dumping me after one night. He knows it too! He’s so desperate to keep his siblings and parents out of the press that he’s willing to go along with it! What a moron. Lol.” The _actual_ father, revealed through a newly discovered court document, is Tannenbaum’s married record producer, Michael Kelling, who has promised to by the promising singer $25,000 a month in child support in exchange for Tannenbaum’s silence to his paternity. “[Raleigh] never wanted to lie to anyone, but his family has been under a huge amount of stress with his sister wanting to be kept out of the press while dealing with her leukemia and his parent’s marriage being dragged into the mix,” a source close to the star claims. “No one was pleased about the accusation, but he thought not denying it would be a better alternative than his parents having more stress on top of Aspen’s condition.” Tannenbaum refuses to comment on the despicable behavior that led to the situation or why she was so willing to drag a man through the press as his sister lay dying and she _knew_ he wasn’t even a _possible_ father of her unborn child, but there’s no denying that the accusation and subsequent behavior was not only unethical but disgusting.

**Comments:**

**21greatnoble:** A-freaking-men

 **Anonymous:** This whole situation is so fucking gross. How dare she?

 **babyboybeck:** I mean I figured he wasn’t the father but who does this to a man who’s trying to take care of his dying sister and grieving family? This is so disgusting

 **rollinglowyo227:** I don’t believe this bullshit. It’s so outrageous

 **anonymous:** Did you not read through this whole article? There’s proof.

 **ftw1006729:** I’m so horrified I ever liked her. I feel like I owe Raleigh Beck a personal apology

 **bananafofana:** How did people seriously believe a kid who once got abandoned by his mother in a department store was willing to abandon his newborn

 **anonymous:** Or that his parents would let him.

 **hey1day2:** No shit.

 **cantbelievebit:** I hope he sues everyone involved in this shit. This whole stunt should go die.

 **l <3eya:** I feel so bad for Kezi Tannenbaum’s baby. I can’t even imagine growing up with a psycho like this.

**7**

He slouched in the pew, numb with shock, eyes painfully dry, and clenching a cupcake beanie in his hands.

Someone sat down beside him, and the slightest whiff of vanilla and cigarette smoke told him all he needed to about who’d approached him. Aubrey shifted fro a moment before a familiar pink flask appeared in Raleigh’s line of sight, and he laughed woodenly, looking over at his boyfriend’s cool, stoic face as he tugged the flask from his fingers, unscrewing the cap as he sat back and shook his head.

“What is it?” Raleigh inquired, side-eyeing his boyfriend with the rim of the flask nearly touching his lips.

Aubrey half-smiled and tapped his hearing aid pointedly, and Raleigh rolled his eyes and took a sip, wincing and coughing at the taste of the Russian vodka he’d absolutely never developed Salem and Charlie’s taste for no matter how many times the pair of them had allowed him to taste and later take New Year’s Eve shots with them. Aubrey patted him on his back, taking back to the flash as Raleigh handed it back and swallowing a quick swig that had Raleigh wincing in sympathy as Aubrey’s smirk only grew.

Leaning against Aubrey’s side, Raleigh bit the inside of his cheek and looked back at the front of the church, his eyes locking on the picture of Aspen that had been displayed for the eulogy. He remembered it, actually. Raleigh had taken it.

Aspen beamed happily at the camera, her sapphire eyes sparkling with mischief and one of Raleigh’s old _How to Train Your Dragon_ beanies pulled over her shoulder length golden-blonde hair, as she trotted off the Paris Metro about a month into her European tour with Bailey and six weeks after she’d been declared in remission. He’d taken a job filming a period piece about the French Revolution simply because it gave him easy accessibility to make weekend trips to visit his sister as she flitted around Europe with an Olympic footballer, his protégé, and occasionally their own favorite jet-setting inventor/hacker extraordinaire.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Aspen _that_ happy. The Prom a few weeks ago had been the closest thing to true, genuine happiness he’d seen from her in ages, but even that had been tinged with a melancholy, hesitance, and pain. Always pain. Hell, the week leading up to her death had been nothing but exhaustion, vomiting, and endless hours of her keening and whimpering in pain as the cancer spread to places that only the highest doses of painkillers could numb.

Still, Aspen had woken up the afternoon before passing to find Raleigh cross-legged at the foot of her bed, Cherokee curled up in the bed beside her, their papa sitting alert by her bed side nursing coffee in one hand and holding her hand with his other, and their dad stretched out to rest his head on her bed from his chair, his dark locks brushing over her fingertips. With an unusually clear-eyed gaze, Aspen had looked over them all and smiled, asking their papa, “Do you think I’ll see Solo and Snow, because Nan says animals don’t go to heaven.”

Their papa had laughed while their father had sat up slightly resting his chin on his own hand as he rolled his eyes and huffed with annoyance. “Don’t listen to Kennedy. She’s so full of shit.”

“She went to Catholic school,” Cherokee had pointed out.

“Until she ascends and becomes God I hardly care what _anyone_ says,” their papa had retorted.

Aspen had smiled, relieved and melted back against the bed bonelessly as she nodded. “Good. I’d hate to go through all this work only to have Maimeo, Daideo, and Miss Katya there. I need backup.” Their parents had exchanged an alarmed look, and their papa had squeezed her hand tighter as she’d looked at them, content, “I love you all…do you think I could get a pizza? I mean, I’ll throw it up but I want one. And a milkshake. And to see my brother’s _Star Wars_ film before I croak.”

It hadn’t been funny, but they’d all laughed and gotten her exactly what she’d asked for, advanced cut of _Star Wars_ included.

It had been sudden and quiet without warning or fanfare or anything. In the end, it had been passed midnight with only their parents to say goodbye, and Raleigh figured that that seemed fitting and far better than everyone crowding around and crying.

“ _I was three when I started acting…and getting paid for it, you know_ ,” Raleigh signed to Aubrey, glad for it since even the quiet whispers would sound explosive in the emptiness of the church.

Aubrey nodded and rested his head atop Raleigh’s, pressing a kiss to temple as he signed back, “ _I know_.”

“ _It was stupid really, and Dad probably should have listened to papa about keeping me far far away from the industry, but at the time, I think I liked people paying attention to me. People seeing me because I don’t think anyone saw me before._ ” Raleigh’s memories of his early childhood in his mother’s care were spotty and vague at best. His therapist didn’t think they’d survive since he’d been so young and so traumatized, but Raleigh had ensured they had. He never wanted to forget feeling perpetually cold, the burning ache of a long-tendered hunger, or the security in silence that Salem had shattered, however he’d managed (Raleigh’s memory wasn’t _that_ good). But he remembered hiding in plain sight, right in front of people’s eyes, because no one was looking for him. Not until his papa had shown up at the station being a terrifyingly alien adult who’d cared that he’d been cold, wanted him to eat, and spoke to him regardless of whether or not Raleigh had responded. _That_ he remembered patchily, like a quilt with missing pieces and holes.

Aubrey tapped his fingers on Raleigh’s thigh in an unspoken sign that while he hadn’t turned to look at Raleigh, he was still paying attention, waiting for him to work through his own head and return.

“ _Besides, everyone I knew acted so it was a bit of monkey-see, monkey-do._ ”

Aubrey laughed, “ _Are you trying to tell me you’re quitting?_ ”

“ _Fuck no,_ ” Raleigh responded, nudging Aubrey with his elbow while Aubrey glanced over at him with a slight smile and a shake of his head. “ _I’m saying that I did acting because I wanted people to see me. Then I did acting because I was good at it and I wanted to be the best. By the time I realized I loved it, I’d been dragged kicking and screaming to New York to go school, and I focused on being better and finding projects I enjoyed and just generally being an actor. I forgot about her, you know?_ ”

He felt Aubrey whirling to face him in surprise and alarm at the confession. Raleigh kept his eyes, unfocused, on the blurry image of his sister in front of him, trying to get himself together enough to continue.

“ _I mean even when we found out she was sick, I didn’t think she’d actually die. I thought she’d get better. I thought she’d be fine. I thought I’d have time to get to know her when she was older, be around her, spend time with her. Love her._ ”

“ _Don’t tell me you didn’t love you sister,_ ” Aubrey told Salem, his signs jerky and furious.

Raleigh nodded, “ _I loved her. I just didn’t spend any time with her. Not enough. Even when we were living together in New York, I was never there. I was writing with Tinzy or Israel. Rehearsing and running lines with whatever group I had a project with. Shooting some film fest flick in Central Park or Brooklyn or Connecticut over the weekend because I didn’t think it would matter. I didn’t think she’d ever not be there._ ”

“ _I think you’re being too hard on yourself,_ ” Aubrey told him.

Drawing back, Raleigh glared at his boyfriend, irate. Lips pressed together in a hard line, eyes narrowed, and back painfully straight, he demanded, “ _Am I_?”

Unconcerned with Raleigh’s ire, Aubrey nodded, “ _You are._ ”

Unbelieving and ready to argue, Aubrey cut him off with a sharp hand gesture that Raleigh had recognized in childhood was Aubrey’s way of verbally cutting someone off. And _everyone_ had learned that continuing on like the gesture hadn’t been seen or understood often tended to lead to Aubrey either leaving the conversation entirely and spending days pretending the person who’d cut him off didn’t exist or throwing things. The first – and only – time Raleigh had dared, Aubrey had dumped a pudding cup on his head and spent a day leaving the room every time Raleigh stepped foot in it. Raleigh had groveled with a dozen of Aubrey’s favorite macarons form La Maison du Chocolat and a handful of sunflowers he’d lifted from Harry Benton-Sterling’s garden (they’d been twelve and nine, and Raleigh hadn’t wanted to fess up about why he’d need flowers).

“ _You took Aspen to her first school dance in elementary school even though it ran into your rehearsal schedule for that musical your group was supposed to be putting on and you had to be up early the next morning for a flight. You dropped that movie you had been talking about wanting to do all year when Aspen first got diagnosed so that you could spend the summer in New York shooting that thing for the Tribeca Film Festival and be around for her more often._ ”

“ _That movie won best picture at the Tribeca Film Festival,_ ” Raleigh pointed out morosely.

“ _You didn’t know that at the time._ ” Aubrey returned without the slightest hint of hesitation. “ _You ditched me in Madrid when she relapsed to sit at her bedside and hold her hand. When you were kids and came to visit us in London, I remember you used to bring her everywhere with you even though you were eight years older than her, and she couldn’t play any of the games we could. You used to have twice weekly tea parties with her when you were in high school. You didn’t neglect her. You didn’t abandon her. You weren’t there as much as I was with my siblings or the way most people are with theirs, but that doesn’t mean you weren’t there or that you didn’t know her or that you put her aside for your career._ ”

Raleigh shook his head and ran a trembling hand through his hair before twisting to face Aubrey, meeting his eyes as he signed shakily, “ _But I did put my career first._ ”

A complicated, hesitant look crossed Aubrey’s face as his eyes moved first to the photo set up of Aspen for the memorial and eulogy before returning to Raleigh’s. He smiled weakly, uneasily, and Raleigh’s eyebrows drew together in confusion and surprise at Aubrey’s evident reluctance to say whatever it was that had crossed his mind. Raleigh nudged him pointed, and Aubrey drew in a breath and nodded his head before rolling his shoulders and straightening his back, chin tipping up and expression locking down as he met Raleigh’s eyes.

“ _I know. We all knew, and the reason no one said anything – that your parents – never said anything was because the world doesn’t stop just because your sister got cancer. I know that sounds terrible, but you still have a life that continues even when your sister is dying in a hospital. Your work was your outlet and escape and livelihood and you needed to not alienate yourself from that world because you’d need it after she died._ ”

For a moment, Raleigh stared at his boyfriend in horror before asking numbly, “ _You thought my sister was going to die the whole time._ ”

Aubrey pressed his lips together in a hard line. “ _Since she relapsed. Yes._ ”

Raleigh deflated and curled into himself, drawing his legs up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. Aubrey watched him wordlessly, sitting cross-legged and nearly completely still except for his anxious fingers tapping furiously and aimlessly on his knees, the giveaway to his anxiety.

They hadn’t often talked about Raleigh’s sister’s condition except to exchange facts and figures that had been passed to them from their family members or some kind of weird phone tree that included a solid half of aging British-American industry elite. And, Raleigh supposed absently, it was partially because Raleigh had known better. Aubrey had always been vain, temperamental, and a cold pragmatist from the beginning of their acquaintance that he covered with creative truth-telling, enchanting smiles, or a dazzling array of topic shifts. If Raleigh had asked Aubrey what he’d thought about Aspen’s chances, Aubrey would have told him the truth.

Raleigh had never asked.

“Why do you two look like someone died?”

Raleigh startled and turned to find Irial Grayson waltzing down the aisle with his husband lingering the doorway rolling his eyes and looking heavenward like a plea for his husband to find some manners. Bailey laughed quietly and patted Cris’s arm, eyes following Salem who was being physically dragged over by Irial’s death grip on the sleeve of his Marvel Loki hoodie, his pale pink hair falling into his eyes that were locked on Irial, bemused. Irial, at least, had subdued his style choices for a funereal, throwing on a pair of black skinny jeans and a dark blazer over his Nightmare Before Christmas sweater that he’d undoubtedly borrowed off of Salem.

“ _Your father,_ ” Raleigh signed to Aubrey quickly, and Aubrey’s eyes widened as he whirled around to narrow his eyes on the approaching pair. They darted passed him to Cris who winked at his son and smiled before Bailey shook his head at Salem and Irial, dragging Cris away with him.

Irial crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at Raleigh before saying, “Congratulations on your paternity denial.”

Aubrey’s eyebrows drew together, glancing between Irial and Raleigh who signed what his father had said quickly. Aubrey rolled his eyes and shook his head as he turned to his father. “ _Don’t be an ass, dad._ ”

Salem nodded sagely in agreement, leaning against the pew and patting Raleigh’s head as he eyed Irial without speaking. Irial looked down at his son and pressed a kiss to cheek in greeting, smirking as Aubrey scowled and shot him an irritated look that didn’t quite disguise the affection he felt for his adoptive father.

“I’m simply commenting on the amazement I find in the fact that for weeks your boyfriend here has been the most hated man in America since he knocked up America’s favorite pop princess then wouldn’t be caught dead in public with her, and now will have everyone’s sympathy for years while they try to burn Kezi Tannenbaum at the stake for decades. That’s some turnaround. Harry does good work. Or bad, depending on how you view the demonization of a pregnant woman,” Irial signed and spoke simultaneously, his tone icy.

Aubrey rolled his eyes, “ _Kezi Tannenbaum is a cunt_.”

Irial pointed a finger at his son before saying, “A _pregnant_ cunt. Where’s the respect?”

“ _Up my ass,_ ” Aubrey returned without the slightest hint of apology. Irial rolled his eyes but didn’t bother to scold him further, knowing it wouldn’t stick and Aubrey wouldn’t care.

“That pregnancy stunt wasn’t planned,” Raleigh remarked coldly.

Irial’s eyes darted to Salem, smirking before shrugging, “Ah, Harry always hated being taken unawares, but I guess this is what happens when you fuck everything that moves. Eventually it comes back to bite you in the arse.”

Salem’s eyebrows rose, “Let’s take down the hypocrisy a notch, Iri.”

“Sorry, did I say something that wasn’t true?”

Salem crooked an eyebrow that promised danger if he kept down that particular path. Raleigh felt both unmitigated fury and absolute exhaustion. Irial and Raleigh had spent most of Raleigh’s life operating on varying levels of animosity that had only ramped itself up when Aubrey had obviously returned Raleigh’s feelings for him. Cris had no problem with him, but Irial seemed destined to hold anything Raleigh had ever done that upset Aubrey against him.

“Are you going to stop being a total asshole and come out now so my son doesn’t have to spend his life chained to you in the closet?”

With a long, drawn out sigh, Salem shook his head while Aubrey glared malevolently at his father, “ _That’s none of your business, dad. Leave him alone._ ”

“You really have to do this here?” Salem groaned.

“Is there someplace better?” Irial asked with a fake smile.

“Is there someplace _worse_?” Raleigh retorted. “I know you’ve never liked me, but this is my sister’s _funereal_.”

“But there would be other people at the reception,” Irial replied lightly while Aubrey watched his father carefully, face devoid of emotion and eyes locked on him borderline predatorily. It was funny that Irial felt so determined to protect Aubrey. Aubrey didn’t need anyone’s protection; he was more than capable of handling himself and his business without anyone’s assistance. Hell, Raleigh was still convinced it had been some combination of Aubrey and Salem that had managed to end Kezi Tannenbaum’s reign of terror since Harry’s plan hadn’t been to completely annihilate Kezi’s reputation…though Raleigh’s fairly certain he hadn’t _minded_ riding out those waves.

Raleigh would never tell Irial that, though.

“I admit, my estimation of your person is considerably low.”

Raleigh and Aubrey exchanged a glance, quirking their eyebrows and sharing knowing looks about how that didn’t even begin to cover Irial’s dislike of him.

“Cris thinks I’m being unfair and overprotective.”

“Maybe, just maybe, Cris is right,” Salem spoke musingly.

Irial shot him a poisonous look, and Salem responded with a nonchalant grin and an innocuous shrug. Turning back to Raleigh, Irial cleared his throat and went on. “It’s simply that I find you entirely inappropriate for my son. He’s an angel, a sweetheart, and you’re, well, a bit of a shark who has no problem with character assassinations of a pregnant woman by selling illegally obtained information your godfather found to your unethical aunt to save your own arse.”

 _Wow, Irial, tell me how you really feel,_ Raleigh thought to himself, blinking.

“I object,” Salem inserted. Irial raised his eyebrows. Aubrey’s smirk grew as he stared at Salem, and Raleigh shot his godfather a hard look that made the man sigh before saying lightly, “Someone else could have gotten that information.”

Irial simply stared at Salem for a moment before nodding. “Right, yes, someone else who’s a world renowned hacker that’s never gotten caught for his illegal activities and would have connections to Raleigh or feel motivated to clear his name. My mistake. Next you’ll be saying you gave the information to Aubrey, and _he_ orchestrated this whole thing.”

Aubrey grinned wickedly as his father shook his head and rubbed his son’s back, either not seeing or not _wanting_ to see the pair of gazes that moved to Aubrey at that remark.

Salem snorted, “Yeah, we get it. Aubrey’s a young, innocent, cherub. My munchkin’s the anti-christ. Can we go to dinner now or do you need to harass Raleigh anymore?”

“I asked a question. I want an answer. I need to know you’re going to do right by my son, yeah? Do you at least understand where I’m coming from?” Irial asked insistently.

And, yes, Raleigh did understand, especially considering all Cris and Irial had been through. That didn’t mean he planned on letting Irial dictate the way he and Aubrey handled their lives and business. The last thing he wanted to do was set a precedent with a man whose career it was to spill celeb gossip on the radio. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d tried to guilt Raleigh into doing – or _not doing_ – shit by calling him out on-air.

“ _He makes it sound like I’m pregnant and you refuse to marry me,_ ” Aubrey signed to Raleigh, indignant. Irial read his words and slapped him lightly on the side of the head, smiling sweetly at his son when he glared up at him.

“Can I have a minute to mourn before upending my life?” Raleigh huffed coldly.

Aubrey crooked an eyebrow, but Raleigh met Irial’s eyes, holding them and trying to communicate what he refused to say in front of Aubrey: he had a plan. He just didn’t want Aubrey to know the plan, not yet. Slowly, Irial nodded.

“I’m trusting you with my son’s heart, Raleigh.”

“No offense, but it’s not yours to entrust me with,” Raleigh told him. Irial nodded slowly and looked down at his son who rested his chin on the back of the pew, eyes on Raleigh, and a knowing, loving, beyond tender smile on his face.

Salem coughed and shook his head, “God, is this what we used to be like when we were younger? Disgusting.”

Raleigh sat up and glared, “This is _still_ what you’re like!”

“Blasphemy,” Irial retorted.

Aubrey and Raleigh met eyes and grinned, shaking their heads.

**Aspen Beck (@AspenNYC)**

Apparently I’m being super morbid playing If I Die Young on repeat…

 

**Salem Petrov (@Salem_Daiki)**

@AspenNYC no shit Sherlock O.0

 

**Text message to Aubrey**

**Cris:** How’s Aspen?

 **Aubrey:** I doubt she’ll make it thru the nite.

 **Cris:** U with Raleigh?

 **Aubrey:** We’re crashing with Cherokee and their cousins in the living room

 **Cris:** Ur dad and I will be down soon

 **Aubrey:** Tell dad to play nice with my bf

 **Aubrey:** He’s fragile.

 **Cris:** Have you ever met ur dad?

 

To: Preferred press

From:

Subject: Official Press Release – Aspen Beck

Final draft of the official Beck family press release regarding the death of their daughter:

“Aspen Norah Beck passed away late last night after nine years struggle with acute myeloid leukemia. The family asks for respect and privacy as they mourn.”

Harry Benton-Sterling

CEO, Sterling & Ireland

 

**Charles Beck (@CharlieBeck)**

Thank you to all our family helping us through everything and lending us your strength.

 

**Patrick Gallagher (@StPatty_)**

Today we lost our beautiful baby girl but thanks to all our family for all their support

 

**Arthur Bailey (@ArthurBailey)**

My goddaughter died today from AML. Prayers to her family @CharlieBeck @StPatty_ @Raleigh_Beck @drawmecherokee

 

To: margaret.gallager@unmaskedmag.co.uk

From: ificouldfly@gmail.com

Subject: You want to read this.

I have something you’ll probably be interested in.

Best,

A

 

**Kezi Tannenbaum blackmails Raleigh Beck as sister dies!**

For weeks popstar, Kezi Tannenbaum, has insinuated in no small measure that Raleigh Beck is the father of her unborn child. In her most recent interview with Irial Dorian and Cherrie Taylor on Dorian Speaks, she told the hosts, “I’ve never had any doubts regarding the consequences of what happened between Raleigh and me. Actions have consequences, and at some point we all have to pay for our mistakes.” Less than twenty-four hours ago, it was revealed that Beck’s younger sister, Aspen, has been suffering from Acute Myeloid Leukemia and succumbed mere hours ago. Now a source says that not only did Tannenbaum know about the Beck family troubles (and willing dragged him through the press as a lowlife, neglectful, child-abandoning manwhore), but that throughout this she knew Tannenbaum wasn’t the father of her unborn baby – as did Beck – because the pair haven’t slept together in three years! According to a number of text messages and emails, Tannenbaum told best friend and Victoria’s Secret model, Lila Simpson, “It’s payback for him rejecting me for ages and dumping me after one night. He knows it too! He’s so desperate to keep his siblings and parents out of the press that he’s willing to go along with it! What a moron. Lol.” The _actual_ father, revealed through a newly discovered court document, is Tannenbaum’s married record producer, Michael Kelling, who has promised to by the promising singer $25,000 a month in child support in exchange for Tannenbaum’s silence to his paternity. “[Raleigh] never wanted to lie to anyone, but his family has been under a huge amount of stress with his sister wanting to be kept out of the press while dealing with her leukemia and his parent’s marriage being dragged into the mix,” a source close to the star claims. “No one was pleased about the accusation, but he thought not denying it would be a better alternative than his parents having more stress on top of Aspen’s condition.” Tannenbaum refuses to comment on the despicable behavior that led to the situation or why she was so willing to drag a man through the press as his sister lay dying and she _knew_ he wasn’t even a _possible_ father of her unborn child, but there’s no denying that the accusation and subsequent behavior was not only unethical but disgusting.

**Comments:**

**21greatnoble:** A-freaking-men

 **Anonymous:** This whole situation is so fucking gross. How dare she?

 **babyboybeck:** I mean I figured he wasn’t the father but who does this to a man who’s trying to take care of his dying sister and grieving family? This is so disgusting

 **rollinglowyo227:** I don’t believe this bullshit. It’s so outrageous

 **anonymous:** Did you not read through this whole article? There’s proof.

 **ftw1006729:** I’m so horrified I ever liked her. I feel like I owe Raleigh Beck a personal apology

 **bananafofana:** How did people seriously believe a kid who once got abandoned by his mother in a department store was willing to abandon his newborn

 **anonymous:** Or that his parents would let him.

 **hey1day2:** No shit.

 **cantbelievebit:** I hope he sues everyone involved in this shit. This whole stunt should go die.

 **l <3eya:** I feel so bad for Kezi Tannenbaum’s baby. I can’t even imagine growing up with a psycho like this.

* * *

He slouched in the pew, numb with shock, eyes painfully dry, and clenching a cupcake beanie in his hands.

Someone sat down beside him, and the slightest whiff of vanilla and cigarette smoke told him all he needed to about who’d approached him. Aubrey shifted fro a moment before a familiar pink flask appeared in Raleigh’s line of sight, and he laughed woodenly, looking over at his boyfriend’s cool, stoic face as he tugged the flask from his fingers, unscrewing the cap as he sat back and shook his head.

“What is it?” Raleigh inquired, side-eyeing his boyfriend with the rim of the flask nearly touching his lips.

Aubrey half-smiled and tapped his hearing aid pointedly, and Raleigh rolled his eyes and took a sip, wincing and coughing at the taste of the Russian vodka he’d absolutely never developed Salem and Charlie’s taste for no matter how many times the pair of them had allowed him to taste and later take New Year’s Eve shots with them. Aubrey patted him on his back, taking back to the flash as Raleigh handed it back and swallowing a quick swig that had Raleigh wincing in sympathy as Aubrey’s smirk only grew.

Leaning against Aubrey’s side, Raleigh bit the inside of his cheek and looked back at the front of the church, his eyes locking on the picture of Aspen that had been displayed for the eulogy. He remembered it, actually. Raleigh had taken it.

Aspen beamed happily at the camera, her sapphire eyes sparkling with mischief and one of Raleigh’s old _How to Train Your Dragon_ beanies pulled over her shoulder length golden-blonde hair, as she trotted off the Paris Metro about a month into her European tour with Bailey and six weeks after she’d been declared in remission. He’d taken a job filming a period piece about the French Revolution simply because it gave him easy accessibility to make weekend trips to visit his sister as she flitted around Europe with an Olympic footballer, his protégé, and occasionally their own favorite jet-setting inventor/hacker extraordinaire.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Aspen _that_ happy. The Prom a few weeks ago had been the closest thing to true, genuine happiness he’d seen from her in ages, but even that had been tinged with a melancholy, hesitance, and pain. Always pain. Hell, the week leading up to her death had been nothing but exhaustion, vomiting, and endless hours of her keening and whimpering in pain as the cancer spread to places that only the highest doses of painkillers could numb.

Still, Aspen had woken up the afternoon before passing to find Raleigh cross-legged at the foot of her bed, Cherokee curled up in the bed beside her, their papa sitting alert by her bed side nursing coffee in one hand and holding her hand with his other, and their dad stretched out to rest his head on her bed from his chair, his dark locks brushing over her fingertips. With an unusually clear-eyed gaze, Aspen had looked over them all and smiled, asking their papa, “Do you think I’ll see Solo and Snow, because Nan says animals don’t go to heaven.”

Their papa had laughed while their father had sat up slightly resting his chin on his own hand as he rolled his eyes and huffed with annoyance. “Don’t listen to Kennedy. She’s so full of shit.”

“She went to Catholic school,” Cherokee had pointed out.

“Until she ascends and becomes God I hardly care what _anyone_ says,” their papa had retorted.

Aspen had smiled, relieved and melted back against the bed bonelessly as she nodded. “Good. I’d hate to go through all this work only to have Maimeo, Daideo, and Miss Katya there. I need backup.” Their parents had exchanged an alarmed look, and their papa had squeezed her hand tighter as she’d looked at them, content, “I love you all…do you think I could get a pizza? I mean, I’ll throw it up but I want one. And a milkshake. And to see my brother’s _Star Wars_ film before I croak.”

It hadn’t been funny, but they’d all laughed and gotten her exactly what she’d asked for, advanced cut of _Star Wars_ included.

It had been sudden and quiet without warning or fanfare or anything. In the end, it had been passed midnight with only their parents to say goodbye, and Raleigh figured that that seemed fitting and far better than everyone crowding around and crying.

“ _I was three when I started acting…and getting paid for it, you know_ ,” Raleigh signed to Aubrey, glad for it since even the quiet whispers would sound explosive in the emptiness of the church.

Aubrey nodded and rested his head atop Raleigh’s, pressing a kiss to temple as he signed back, “ _I know_.”

“ _It was stupid really, and Dad probably should have listened to papa about keeping me far far away from the industry, but at the time, I think I liked people paying attention to me. People seeing me because I don’t think anyone saw me before._ ” Raleigh’s memories of his early childhood in his mother’s care were spotty and vague at best. His therapist didn’t think they’d survive since he’d been so young and so traumatized, but Raleigh had ensured they had. He never wanted to forget feeling perpetually cold, the burning ache of a long-tendered hunger, or the security in silence that Salem had shattered, however he’d managed (Raleigh’s memory wasn’t _that_ good). But he remembered hiding in plain sight, right in front of people’s eyes, because no one was looking for him. Not until his papa had shown up at the station being a terrifyingly alien adult who’d cared that he’d been cold, wanted him to eat, and spoke to him regardless of whether or not Raleigh had responded. _That_ he remembered patchily, like a quilt with missing pieces and holes.

Aubrey tapped his fingers on Raleigh’s thigh in an unspoken sign that while he hadn’t turned to look at Raleigh, he was still paying attention, waiting for him to work through his own head and return.

“ _Besides, everyone I knew acted so it was a bit of monkey-see, monkey-do._ ”

Aubrey laughed, “ _Are you trying to tell me you’re quitting?_ ”

“ _Fuck no,_ ” Raleigh responded, nudging Aubrey with his elbow while Aubrey glanced over at him with a slight smile and a shake of his head. “ _I’m saying that I did acting because I wanted people to see me. Then I did acting because I was good at it and I wanted to be the best. By the time I realized I loved it, I’d been dragged kicking and screaming to New York to go school, and I focused on being better and finding projects I enjoyed and just generally being an actor. I forgot about her, you know?_ ”

He felt Aubrey whirling to face him in surprise and alarm at the confession. Raleigh kept his eyes, unfocused, on the blurry image of his sister in front of him, trying to get himself together enough to continue.

“ _I mean even when we found out she was sick, I didn’t think she’d actually die. I thought she’d get better. I thought she’d be fine. I thought I’d have time to get to know her when she was older, be around her, spend time with her. Love her._ ”

“ _Don’t tell me you didn’t love you sister,_ ” Aubrey told Salem, his signs jerky and furious.

Raleigh nodded, “ _I loved her. I just didn’t spend any time with her. Not enough. Even when we were living together in New York, I was never there. I was writing with Tinzy or Israel. Rehearsing and running lines with whatever group I had a project with. Shooting some film fest flick in Central Park or Brooklyn or Connecticut over the weekend because I didn’t think it would matter. I didn’t think she’d ever not be there._ ”

“ _I think you’re being too hard on yourself,_ ” Aubrey told him.

Drawing back, Raleigh glared at his boyfriend, irate. Lips pressed together in a hard line, eyes narrowed, and back painfully straight, he demanded, “ _Am I_?”

Unconcerned with Raleigh’s ire, Aubrey nodded, “ _You are._ ”

Unbelieving and ready to argue, Aubrey cut him off with a sharp hand gesture that Raleigh had recognized in childhood was Aubrey’s way of verbally cutting someone off. And _everyone_ had learned that continuing on like the gesture hadn’t been seen or understood often tended to lead to Aubrey either leaving the conversation entirely and spending days pretending the person who’d cut him off didn’t exist or throwing things. The first – and only – time Raleigh had dared, Aubrey had dumped a pudding cup on his head and spent a day leaving the room every time Raleigh stepped foot in it. Raleigh had groveled with a dozen of Aubrey’s favorite macarons form La Maison du Chocolat and a handful of sunflowers he’d lifted from Harry Benton-Sterling’s garden (they’d been twelve and nine, and Raleigh hadn’t wanted to fess up about why he’d need flowers).

“ _You took Aspen to her first school dance in elementary school even though it ran into your rehearsal schedule for that musical your group was supposed to be putting on and you had to be up early the next morning for a flight. You dropped that movie you had been talking about wanting to do all year when Aspen first got diagnosed so that you could spend the summer in New York shooting that thing for the Tribeca Film Festival and be around for her more often._ ”

“ _That movie won best picture at the Tribeca Film Festival,_ ” Raleigh pointed out morosely.

“ _You didn’t know that at the time._ ” Aubrey returned without the slightest hint of hesitation. “ _You ditched me in Madrid when she relapsed to sit at her bedside and hold her hand. When you were kids and came to visit us in London, I remember you used to bring her everywhere with you even though you were eight years older than her, and she couldn’t play any of the games we could. You used to have twice weekly tea parties with her when you were in high school. You didn’t neglect her. You didn’t abandon her. You weren’t there as much as I was with my siblings or the way most people are with theirs, but that doesn’t mean you weren’t there or that you didn’t know her or that you put her aside for your career._ ”

Raleigh shook his head and ran a trembling hand through his hair before twisting to face Aubrey, meeting his eyes as he signed shakily, “ _But I did put my career first._ ”

A complicated, hesitant look crossed Aubrey’s face as his eyes moved first to the photo set up of Aspen for the memorial and eulogy before returning to Raleigh’s. He smiled weakly, uneasily, and Raleigh’s eyebrows drew together in confusion and surprise at Aubrey’s evident reluctance to say whatever it was that had crossed his mind. Raleigh nudged him pointed, and Aubrey drew in a breath and nodded his head before rolling his shoulders and straightening his back, chin tipping up and expression locking down as he met Raleigh’s eyes.

“ _I know. We all knew, and the reason no one said anything – that your parents – never said anything was because the world doesn’t stop just because your sister got cancer. I know that sounds terrible, but you still have a life that continues even when your sister is dying in a hospital. Your work was your outlet and escape and livelihood and you needed to not alienate yourself from that world because you’d need it after she died._ ”

For a moment, Raleigh stared at his boyfriend in horror before asking numbly, “ _You thought my sister was going to die the whole time._ ”

Aubrey pressed his lips together in a hard line. “ _Since she relapsed. Yes._ ”

Raleigh deflated and curled into himself, drawing his legs up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. Aubrey watched him wordlessly, sitting cross-legged and nearly completely still except for his anxious fingers tapping furiously and aimlessly on his knees, the giveaway to his anxiety.

They hadn’t often talked about Raleigh’s sister’s condition except to exchange facts and figures that had been passed to them from their family members or some kind of weird phone tree that included a solid half of aging British-American industry elite. And, Raleigh supposed absently, it was partially because Raleigh had known better. Aubrey had always been vain, temperamental, and a cold pragmatist from the beginning of their acquaintance that he covered with creative truth-telling, enchanting smiles, or a dazzling array of topic shifts. If Raleigh had asked Aubrey what he’d thought about Aspen’s chances, Aubrey would have told him the truth.

Raleigh had never asked.

“Why do you two look like someone died?”

Raleigh startled and turned to find Irial Grayson waltzing down the aisle with his husband lingering the doorway rolling his eyes and looking heavenward like a plea for his husband to find some manners. Bailey laughed quietly and patted Cris’s arm, eyes following Salem who was being physically dragged over by Irial’s death grip on the sleeve of his Marvel Loki hoodie, his pale pink hair falling into his eyes that were locked on Irial, bemused. Irial, at least, had subdued his style choices for a funereal, throwing on a pair of black skinny jeans and a dark blazer over his Nightmare Before Christmas sweater that he’d undoubtedly borrowed off of Salem.

“ _Your father,_ ” Raleigh signed to Aubrey quickly, and Aubrey’s eyes widened as he whirled around to narrow his eyes on the approaching pair. They darted passed him to Cris who winked at his son and smiled before Bailey shook his head at Salem and Irial, dragging Cris away with him.

Irial crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at Raleigh before saying, “Congratulations on your paternity denial.”

Aubrey’s eyebrows drew together, glancing between Irial and Raleigh who signed what his father had said quickly. Aubrey rolled his eyes and shook his head as he turned to his father. “ _Don’t be an ass, dad._ ”

Salem nodded sagely in agreement, leaning against the pew and patting Raleigh’s head as he eyed Irial without speaking. Irial looked down at his son and pressed a kiss to cheek in greeting, smirking as Aubrey scowled and shot him an irritated look that didn’t quite disguise the affection he felt for his adoptive father.

“I’m simply commenting on the amazement I find in the fact that for weeks your boyfriend here has been the most hated man in America since he knocked up America’s favorite pop princess then wouldn’t be caught dead in public with her, and now will have everyone’s sympathy for years while they try to burn Kezi Tannenbaum at the stake for decades. That’s some turnaround. Harry does good work. Or bad, depending on how you view the demonization of a pregnant woman,” Irial signed and spoke simultaneously, his tone icy.

Aubrey rolled his eyes, “ _Kezi Tannenbaum is a cunt_.”

Irial pointed a finger at his son before saying, “A _pregnant_ cunt. Where’s the respect?”

“ _Up my ass,_ ” Aubrey returned without the slightest hint of apology. Irial rolled his eyes but didn’t bother to scold him further, knowing it wouldn’t stick and Aubrey wouldn’t care.

“That pregnancy stunt wasn’t planned,” Raleigh remarked coldly.

Irial’s eyes darted to Salem, smirking before shrugging, “Ah, Harry always hated being taken unawares, but I guess this is what happens when you fuck everything that moves. Eventually it comes back to bite you in the arse.”

Salem’s eyebrows rose, “Let’s take down the hypocrisy a notch, Iri.”

“Sorry, did I say something that wasn’t true?”

Salem crooked an eyebrow that promised danger if he kept down that particular path. Raleigh felt both unmitigated fury and absolute exhaustion. Irial and Raleigh had spent most of Raleigh’s life operating on varying levels of animosity that had only ramped itself up when Aubrey had obviously returned Raleigh’s feelings for him. Cris had no problem with him, but Irial seemed destined to hold anything Raleigh had ever done that upset Aubrey against him.

“Are you going to stop being a total asshole and come out now so my son doesn’t have to spend his life chained to you in the closet?”

With a long, drawn out sigh, Salem shook his head while Aubrey glared malevolently at his father, “ _That’s none of your business, dad. Leave him alone._ ”

“You really have to do this here?” Salem groaned.

“Is there someplace better?” Irial asked with a fake smile.

“Is there someplace _worse_?” Raleigh retorted. “I know you’ve never liked me, but this is my sister’s _funereal_.”

“But there would be other people at the reception,” Irial replied lightly while Aubrey watched his father carefully, face devoid of emotion and eyes locked on him borderline predatorily. It was funny that Irial felt so determined to protect Aubrey. Aubrey didn’t need anyone’s protection; he was more than capable of handling himself and his business without anyone’s assistance. Hell, Raleigh was still convinced it had been some combination of Aubrey and Salem that had managed to end Kezi Tannenbaum’s reign of terror since Harry’s plan hadn’t been to completely annihilate Kezi’s reputation…though Raleigh’s fairly certain he hadn’t _minded_ riding out those waves.

Raleigh would never tell Irial that, though.

“I admit, my estimation of your person is considerably low.”

Raleigh and Aubrey exchanged a glance, quirking their eyebrows and sharing knowing looks about how that didn’t even begin to cover Irial’s dislike of him.

“Cris thinks I’m being unfair and overprotective.”

“Maybe, just maybe, Cris is right,” Salem spoke musingly.

Irial shot him a poisonous look, and Salem responded with a nonchalant grin and an innocuous shrug. Turning back to Raleigh, Irial cleared his throat and went on. “It’s simply that I find you entirely inappropriate for my son. He’s an angel, a sweetheart, and you’re, well, a bit of a shark who has no problem with character assassinations of a pregnant woman by selling illegally obtained information your godfather found to your unethical aunt to save your own arse.”

 _Wow, Irial, tell me how you really feel,_ Raleigh thought to himself, blinking.

“I object,” Salem inserted. Irial raised his eyebrows. Aubrey’s smirk grew as he stared at Salem, and Raleigh shot his godfather a hard look that made the man sigh before saying lightly, “Someone else could have gotten that information.”

Irial simply stared at Salem for a moment before nodding. “Right, yes, someone else who’s a world renowned hacker that’s never gotten caught for his illegal activities and would have connections to Raleigh or feel motivated to clear his name. My mistake. Next you’ll be saying you gave the information to Aubrey, and _he_ orchestrated this whole thing.”

Aubrey grinned wickedly as his father shook his head and rubbed his son’s back, either not seeing or not _wanting_ to see the pair of gazes that moved to Aubrey at that remark.

Salem snorted, “Yeah, we get it. Aubrey’s a young, innocent, cherub. My munchkin’s the anti-christ. Can we go to dinner now or do you need to harass Raleigh anymore?”

“I asked a question. I want an answer. I need to know you’re going to do right by my son, yeah? Do you at least understand where I’m coming from?” Irial asked insistently.

And, yes, Raleigh did understand, especially considering all Cris and Irial had been through. That didn’t mean he planned on letting Irial dictate the way he and Aubrey handled their lives and business. The last thing he wanted to do was set a precedent with a man whose career it was to spill celeb gossip on the radio. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d tried to guilt Raleigh into doing – or _not doing_ – shit by calling him out on-air.

“ _He makes it sound like I’m pregnant and you refuse to marry me,_ ” Aubrey signed to Raleigh, indignant. Irial read his words and slapped him lightly on the side of the head, smiling sweetly at his son when he glared up at him.

“Can I have a minute to mourn before upending my life?” Raleigh huffed coldly.

Aubrey crooked an eyebrow, but Raleigh met Irial’s eyes, holding them and trying to communicate what he refused to say in front of Aubrey: he had a plan. He just didn’t want Aubrey to know the plan, not yet. Slowly, Irial nodded.

“I’m trusting you with my son’s heart, Raleigh.”

“No offense, but it’s not yours to entrust me with,” Raleigh told him. Irial nodded slowly and looked down at his son who rested his chin on the back of the pew, eyes on Raleigh, and a knowing, loving, beyond tender smile on his face.

Salem coughed and shook his head, “God, is this what we used to be like when we were younger? Disgusting.”

Raleigh sat up and glared, “This is _still_ what you’re like!”

“Blasphemy,” Irial retorted.

Aubrey and Raleigh met eyes and grinned, shaking their heads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maimeo and Daideo are grandma and grandpa in Gaelic (I think I mean is the internet really reliable?) anyway, it's what they call Patrick's grandparents, Norah and Murphy. That's what we did for my grandparents except in Polish.
> 
> La Maison du Chocolat is real and amazing. I could literally live off their macarons. And they're in New York, I believe. This is according to my mother, but she's usually reliable regarding anything having to do with food and/or New York.
> 
> I'm so late, but actually it's because I hadn't finished the last chapter yet and didn't want to make everyone wait an exceptionally long time if I got busy and couldn't finish. However, I have finished the last chapter! So we're all good. Also, everyone should listen to If I Could Fly. That song is so...everything sad and sappy and ugh. So good.


	8. "XO" by Beyoncé

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth will out

**Text message to Dad**

**Raleigh:** Why is this such a complicated process?

**Dad:** Why are you asking me?

**Raleigh:** Harry stopped taking my calls/texts

**Dad:** I have no sympathy for you

**Dad:** Chazza agrees

**Raleigh:** Uncle Salem won’t

**Dad:** Uncle Salem’s a shit stirrer that’s why

 

**Kezi Tannenbaum claims she was framed**

Amidst a flurry of allegations and leaked text messages regarding Kezi Tannenbaum claiming her ex-flame, Raleigh Beck, was the father of her baby, Tannenbaum has fired back saying that all the evidence was fabricated and Beck has framed her. “It’s disgusting. I would never ever do something so heinous, especially not when his family was having such a hard time. It’s blatant and fragrant defamation,” Tannenbaum expressed desperately on a radio interview. Beck, though, is having none of it. Though he usually refuses to comment on alleged scandals, Beck told us, “That’s the most ridiculous excuse I’ve ever heard. It’s been three years since I touched Kezi so she knew that baby wasn’t mine. And if I didn’t have time to comment on imaginary paternity, I certainly didn’t have time to concoct a plot against her. I didn’t even really think about her. It was her issue and her problem. And quite frankly, leaked messages or not, her agreement with her producer [Michael Kelling] is a matter of public record. I wish Kezi the best of luck with her and her baby’s lives, but I’m done with this whole farce. I don’t want any part of this nonsense.” Beck might be washing his hands of this, but Tannenbaum has no interest in letting it go. The singer stated that she intended to file a defamation case against the actor on-air, prompting waves of support from her fans. We hope to see this whole thing resolved as peacefully (and soon) as possible.

**Comments:**

**ahsha_dean_thomas:** Can she do that? Did he defame her? Is there even evidence?

**listen09863laura:** Hahahaha I doubt it

**therealral:** She’s just talking shit because she’s made someone found her out.

**k_sick69:** How much you wanna bet that Raleigh’s godfather leaked those text messages?

**anonymous:** If he did no one will ever be able to link it back to him.

**kendall_4kez:** You’re all despicable! Kezi’s such an amazing woman. No way would she do this.

**anonymous:** Okay little girl time for you to go home.

 

**Raleigh Beck (@Raleigh_Beck)**

Omg Star Wars Fest is coming up soon!!!!!

 

**Roman Chandler (@theromancandle)**

@Raleigh_Beck or the premiere. Focus. First things first.

 

**Raleigh Beck (@Raleigh_Beck)**

@theromancandle ok yes, the premiere, but I’m over here geeking out so shhhhh

 

**Text message to Raleigh**

**Aubrey:** Are your parents going to the premiere?

**Raleigh:** Nope, dad has to be back in NYC. Papa’s going with him.

**Raleigh:** I’m keeping Cher.

**Raleigh:** Are you going?

**Aubrey:** Well duh. It’s a Star Wars premiere

**Raleigh:** -_-

**Aubrey:** & you’ll be there too I guess

**Raleigh:** Fuck you very much

**Aubrey:** <3 ;) :*

 

**Raleigh Beck (@Raleigh_Beck)**

Shit is so complicated it’s unreal.

 

**Charles Beck (@CharlieBeck)**

@Raleigh_Beck shouldn’t you be getting ready for something?

 

**Patrick Gallagher (@StPatty_)**

@CharlieBeck don’t bother him. Your son is whining.

 

**Cherokee Beck (@drawmecherokee)**

@StPatty_ @CharlieBeck actually hes pouting.

 

**Raleigh Beck (@Raleigh_Beck)**

I love my family. I love my family. I love my family #repetitionbreedsbelief

 

**Patrick Gallagher (@StPatty_)**

@Raleigh_Beck you can’t see me, but I’m flipping you off.

 

**Raleigh Beck (@Raleigh_Beck)**

@StPatty_ for everyone who wonders why I’m so problematic :P

 

**Aubrey Grayson (@AubreyGray)**

Rockin my Star Wars inspired suit :D

* * *

“Harry’s stressing out,” Shannon announced without tearing her eyes from the brightly lid screen of the smartphone in her hands.

Raleigh shared a long-suffering glance with Cherokee who sat beside him looking surprisingly colorful in a Dolce and Gabbana jacquard dress with her recently dyed black and ombre pink hair cascading passed her shoulders in fat curls. His sister giggled when Raleigh pulled an exasperated face, both of them sobering abruptly with expression of feigned innocence with their aunt looked up at them, eyes narrowed as she glanced between the pair of them.

“Could you, maybe, take this seriously please?” Shannon asked Raleigh with a sigh.

Cherokee pursed her lips and tapped a black fingernail against her bottom lip, “I’m twelve. I don’t take anything seriously.”

Shannon glared at her, “And who was talking to you?”

With a dramatic gasp, Cherokee put a hand on her chest and eyes Shannon distastefully, “Well I never.”

If Cherokee hadn’t been so painfully introverted, she might have done well as an actress, he’d always thought. Though, her early years had been a painful flashback of Judy the bunny from _Zootopia_ , dramatically flailing as she exclaimed ‘Blood! Blood!’ during a school play. ( _Cherokee’s_ play had been about US presidents so Cherokee’s valiant exclamation remained a mystery).

Shannon rolled her eyes, and Cherokee beamed, snagging the bottle out of Raleigh’s hand before he could warn her and taking a long gulp. She choked. He grimaced. Shannon whirled towards him and pointed a finger in his direction warningly. Cherokee panted and shoved the bottle back at him as she fanned herself, eyes watering. “Fucking hell. What did you spike that with? Rocket fuel?”

“Uncle Salem’s stash of vodka.”

Cherokee nodded sagely, “Rocket fuel. Like I said.”

“You’re _drinking_ before walking the _red carpet_?” Shannon exclaimed, tossing her head back and groaning. “Like I don’t have enough to stress over. What did I do to deserve this?”

“Oh lighten up, Aunt Shannon,” Raleigh replied lightly, poking her shin with the toe of his boot. “I’m not nearly as drunk as I ought to be, as high as I _want_ to be, or as emotionally shredded as I’m expected to be. Why is Harry stressing you out?”

“Because you’re coming out is turning into a nightmare.”

“That’s hardly unexpected,” Raleigh shrugged.

Shannon huffed, “Harry’s trying to figure out the least controversial way to handle it.”

Raleigh didn’t bother replying to that. His coming out would be majorly controversial no matter how the situation was handled, mostly through Raleigh’s own fault. Years of being an undisguised manwhore was now coming back to bite him in the ass the way he’d expected. Twenty years ago, Raleigh would have gotten away with his behavior, seen it all swept under the rug and had it chocked up to the pressure on young celebrities to hide their sexualities, but the industry had changed enough since then to where hiding his sexuality wasn’t an legitimate excuse, it was a cop out. And admitting he’d manipulated the press, his fans, and his ‘colleagues’ in order to protect his sister’s privacy certainly would not gain him any favor.

For the first time in his life, Raleigh wished for the complicated existence his parents had lived years ago. At least coming out hadn’t been nearly so tangled and twisty. Difficult? Sure. But not so measured, so pried open, so public. Where twenty years ago, afraid to be accused of homophobia, the press hadn’t touched people who came out with a ten-foot-pole, now they dug into every facet and hidden corner searching for skeletons to analyze with their rabid online viewers.

Fucking annoying, really.

“It’s going to be controversial regardless,” Raleigh stated plainly. Shannon gave him a droll look, and Raleigh shrugged without the slightest shred of concern. They’d been playing this game in the two months since Aspen’s death. Excuses had gone from ‘you’re in mourning, remember?’ to ‘your image needs cleaning up’ to ‘it’s complicated, we’re working on it.’ And Aubrey had been relatively good-natured about the whole thing, considerably more so than Raleigh.

Raleigh started filming in less than a month, and he wanted the situation finished before then. However, it was starting to look like that wouldn’t be an option. Aubrey might be willing to wait as long as it was ‘being handled,’ but that was Aubrey who, despite his assurances, honestly hadn’t expected Raleigh to come out for a long time, Raleigh suspected. On the other hand, Raleigh had allowed himself to stay firmly rooted in a closet he’d never wanted to protect his baby sister. She didn’t need protecting anymore, and he was tired of having to maintain a platonic relationship with his boyfriend in public.

Cherokee nodded her head profusely at Raleigh’s statement, smacking his chest with the back of her hand, “’S cause you’re such a slut.”

_Well…_ Shannon made a pained sound and shook her head. “For fuck’s sake, Cherokee, language.”

Both Raleigh and Cherokee narrowed their eyes on her before sharing a quick glance. Cherokee raised her eyebrows, and Raleigh blinked as he shook his head, making Cherokee giggle.

Their aunt sighed, “Listen, Raleigh, I know you’re not happy about the situation.”

“No shit,” he deadpanned.

“But everyone’s doing the best they can under the circumstances,” Shannon continued on as if she hadn’t heard him. Cherokee snorted, and Shannon pursed her lips. “You asked specifically that your parents and Raleigh had their arses covered for this, and that takes time considering how involved they all were with everything.”

“Because the general public knows that?”

“Your _fanbase_ would undoubtedly figure it out,” Shannon corrected him.

That was undeniably true, and while Raleigh felt proud that his fans were neither blind nor brainless on the inner workings and machinations of the publicity side of the industry, it hardly served his purpose now.

Raleigh sighed, exhausted as he whined plaintively, “Honestly how bad would the fallout be if I just tongued Aubrey in front of a camera?”

Shannon froze, her eyes narrowing slowly on Raleigh with a fire in them that seemed to be debating whether or not to shank him. He voted not. It’s not like he genuinely planned on that kind of uncontrolled coming out, but God knew it would be nicer than this turtle-slow mess with Ven-diagrams of the pros and cons of each and every possible maneuver and avenue they could take.

Cherokee beamed, “That would be so romantic. Like _The Notebook_ but without the domestic assault and verbal abuse.”

“Yeah but without all that there’s no spice, is there?” Raleigh teased.

“What kind of fallout…” Shannon mocked. Leaning forward to glare at him. “Well, you’d effectively be confirming years of circulating rumors that you’re screwing with your childhood friend and a well-loved handicapped high fashion model – ”

Raleigh and Cherokee grimaced, the former saying, “Aubrey _hates_ that word.”

“So either you’d been banging him from the beginning and cheating on him or it had all been a publicity ploy, for _both_ of you, in which case you’ll both be burned at the stake. No one will believe you hadn’t been together for years, not with the way the two of you behave. And Kezi Tannenbaum’s been on a PR run to claim you used Aspen as a way to cover up the pregnancy scare and how unfair that is. And if you demonize yourself anymore to the press, they’ll want to believe that. So either you’ll look like a deplorable human being. Or you _and_ Aubrey will.”

Nodding sagely, Raleigh pursed his lips while Cherokee shook her head, skeptical.

“Way to lay it out there.”

Cherokee rolled her eyes and threw her hands up. “No! This is why I stay the hell away from PR. You all make everything _super_ complicated. Why don’t we all just try the truth? A little sincerity?” Raleigh and Shannon balked, thoroughly appalled by the mere suggestion, and Cherokee sighed, “Fine, or not. Go back to being sad and miserable.”

“Harry Benton-Sterling is _very_ good at his job.”

“Yeah? And I’m twelve and fully immersed in fandoms,” Cherokee pointed out. “Sometimes all people want is a little honesty. I mean who are you doing this for? Yourselves, your fans, the world, or the press? There’s nothing that doesn’t blow over eventually, no matter how bad. Adultery. Pregnancy. Rape. Murder. This industry is ugly, but people are willing to ignore a whole hell of a lot if they admire your talent. I mean just look at Michael Jackson.”

Shannon snorted, “Those kids were paid off.”

Raleigh crooked an eyebrow. “I thought the general consensus was to believe the victims instead of undermining and demonizing them?”

“There was literally no proof,” Shannon argued.

Raleigh looked at Cherokee who crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. He nodded curtly, “Point taken, Cher.”

“Good.”

“Don’t be an idiot, Raleigh,” Shannon warned him as the limo pulled to a stop, the cameras outside already flashing blindingly, and the deafening screams muted. He nodded thoughtfully and flashed his aunt an angelic smile that only inspired her to roll her eyes in disbelief and dismissal.

The door opened, and Raleigh stepped out, smiling and waving at the fans lined up just behind the press, ignoring the flashing cameras completely. He turned back to the car and held a hand out to help Cherokee climb out of the interior, smiling softly as she startled and gripped his hand tightly, pressing against his side with wide eyes. Carefully, Raleigh led her over to where most of his castmates had already gathered and stood, posing for pictures or chatting with reporters.

Steadying her as she wobbled on her platform heels, Raleigh grinned down at her as she scowled. “Why did I agree to this again? You hardly need a date to a movie premiere.”

“Actually I agreed for your sake,” Raleigh quipped. “I’ve seen some of your photos and interviews when you go alone. It’s so sad.”

Cherokee elbowed him, and Raleigh threw back his head and laughed as he tugged her over to the first interviewer.

“Hi, Raleigh, Jenna Lawson for Sci-Fi Junkies TV. You and your adorable date look great tonight.”

“Adorable? Next time I’m wearing sweatpants,” Cherokee huffed lightly.

Raleigh laughed, “Ignore her, Jenna, she’s just angry everyone in the family thinks she needs supervision to walk a red carpet. Dad says it got painful watching her go at it alone. Like a dog walking on its hind legs.”

“What?” Cherokee squawked while Jenna Lawson laughed delightedly.

“You excited for the movie release tonight?”

“Absolutely,” Raleigh nodded, “I’ve always been a huge _Star Wars_ fan myself so getting a chance to be involved with the project brought me absolute joy. More like bliss. I think I just spent a few days spamming everyone in the phone contacts and going ‘I’m going to be in _Star Wars_.’ It just needed to be done.”

Cherokee nodded, “He was obnoxious.”

“I was _excited_ ,” Raleigh corrected. Cherokee snorted at this.

Jenna laughed and nodded, “That’s exactly what Aubrey Grayson said when we talked to him.”

Raleigh stilled, and Cherokee stifled laughter at Raleigh’s immediate response, though it quickly turned to a yelp when Raleigh responded by stepping meaningfully on her toes. She glared at him. “Is Aubrey here already?”

“Oh yeah,” Jenna nodded, “made quite the entrance when he arrived too because his suit is embroidered with Kylo Ren and Darth Vader masks.”

“Of course it is,” Raleigh laughed delightedly, craning his neck until he spotted his boyfriend chatting amicably with Raleigh’s costar, Moira, as he made his way to the interviewer calling his name, his thick hair braided back out of his face intricately. Their eyes met across the distance, and Aubrey offered him a soft, fond smile before turning to the interviewer purposefully. Raleigh felt a pang go through him.

Glancing from Cherokee to Aubrey and back again, Raleigh made the most impulsive decision of his life, squaring his shoulders and grasping Cherokee’s shoulder tightly to keep his hands from shaking. “I’m really sorry, Jenna, I have to go talk to Aubrey. If you’ll excuse us.”

Cherokee startled but allowed herself to be pulled away as she eyed Raleigh suspiciously.

“What are you doing?” She mused.

_Whatever the fuck I want_ , he thought to himself as he made his way to another costar, Roman, who had an arm around his fiancée’s waist as he laughed with the director.

“Roman!” The man jolted and turned to Raleigh, grinning. Raleigh shoved Cherokee towards Roman who seemed surprised and then speculative. “Can you make sure Cherokee doesn’t make a complete fool of herself?”

Cherokee bristled. “I do _not_ need a babysitter, munchkin.”

Roman laughed and threw an arm around Cherokee’s shoulders hugging her to his side while she fumed. “Will do, Ral. Hope whatever stupid thing you’re about to do goes well for you.”

“Yeah, me too,” Raleigh mumbled, clapping his friend on the shoulder as he moved through the crowd and made his way towards Aubrey. His stomach tensed, palms sweat, and noises seemed to fade out.

Was he doing this? Really? Yeah, he was doing this.

Aubrey stood in front of him, not yet having noticed his arrival, as he talked slowly and signed quickly to the interviewer, the cameraman’s lips curving into an admiring smile that Raleigh was used to seeing on faces around Aubrey. Everyone seemed to think he was an icon, a role model, but of course no one knew him as intimately as Raleigh or as well as Aubrey’s siblings. The amount of people who understood Aubrey’s depth of ruthlessness could be counted on one hand, and that had been entirely intentional.

Raleigh caught Aubrey’s elbow, surprising him.

“Aubrey,” he greeted him quietly as Aubrey turned to him, a moment before Raleigh kissed him in front of the camera without warning. Aubrey tensed, relaxing only when Raleigh slipped an arm around his waist and tugged him closer. Groaning, Aubrey cupped Raleigh’s face and kissed back with an intensity and familiarity that would tell the world that this was not their first kiss.

Pulling back slightly, Aubrey fought off a smile that spoke of exactly how pleased he was, tucking a lock of hair behind Raleigh’s ear, “Raleigh. This is not PR-approved, is it?” He whispered the question too low for the mic to pick up.

Raleigh smiled and shook his head, “No.”

“This is about to be a shit show, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

“Um-hm,” Raleigh beamed, as he nodded. “If you are.”

Aubrey cocked his head and smiled sharply, turning back to the interviewer and remaining entirely in Raleigh’s arms. “I’m sorry, you were saying, Kyle?” Raleigh took stock of the shock, amusement, and sly looks on the faces of the press as Raleigh’s fans went wild and cheered for the pair of them. Raleigh blushed and waved to them in thanks.

“I…um…you…” Kyle in interviewer floundered.

Aubrey sighed, “You’re practically salivating Kyle. You might as well ask.”

Kyle cleared his throat nervously, “Right. So. You two are…”

“Dating,” Aubrey and Raleigh said together at his exponentially long pause. Although, Raleigh was curious as to what Kyle thought they were _doing_ that had caused that mini-stroke.

“Dating,” Kyle nodded, trying desperately to regain his footing. “Can I…ask…for how long?”

Pursing his lips together, Aubrey turned to Raleigh who grinned at him as he answered, “Three years, give or take.”

“Give, definitely, give,” Aubrey exclaimed. “The shit I put up with from you.”

“Babe,” Raleigh purred warningly.

Aubrey shrugged, “You’re an absolute menace.”

“Me?” He shouted, appalled.

“You,” Aubrey smirked.

“His father hates me,” Raleigh weighed in. “Obviously, I am not the problem child here.”

“You know why he hates you.”

“Lies and slander,” Raleigh agreed while Aubrey laughed and pressed a kiss to his throat.

“Okay, but what about all those women you were spotted with over the years?” Kyle pressed.

Aubrey made a face, and Raleigh pinched his side until he yelped and glared up at Raleigh. “It’s…I’m bisexual so a few years ago, yeah, all those women. It’s not something I’m particularly proud of, but I’m also not ashamed of it. Being a slag is entirely _my_ business, but my relationship with Aubrey is entirely too important to me, and I respect him too much, to cheat. PR is a part of this industry, it always has been. And I made the choices I made for the people I love – _loved_ ,” he corrected with a wince. Kyle paled, and Raleigh swept his thumb comfortingly along the skin of Raleigh’s neck. “We all make sacrifices for the people we care about. For our families and friends and loved ones, and regardless of whether or not it’s the right thing to do, it is what it is at the end of the day. I lied. It hurt a lot of people, it will hurt a lot of people, but I did it to protect my baby sister, to protect a girl who only wanted to not be a pitiable face in the tabloids for the world to gawk at and speculate over. And I’m not sorry for that. No matter the personal or professional cost, it worked. I gave my sister that. Now, it’s time to give Aubrey and I what we need.”

Aubrey smirked and shook his head, turning his back to the cameras and leaning up to whisper in Raleigh’s ear, “Very pretty speech, munchkin. You’ve been spending entirely too much time with Bailey.”

Looking down at Aubrey whose genuine happiness shone from him, unrestrained and without guile, made everything worth it. Tomorrow, the press would be critical and would dig into their whole lives. Harry would tear him to shreds, and Shannon would curse him out. Tomorrow, he’d undoubtedly get a come-to-Jesus talk from Irial, a hug from Cris, and pride-filled tears from his parents. Kezi would be a nightmare. His fans might lose their shit. And someone would draft their homophobic hate mail that would drive Raleigh completely insane.

But at that moment, Raleigh shrugged it off and pressed a kiss to Aubrey’s lips in the middle of the press hurricane for the simple reason that he _could_. “Just shut up and smile pretty, love.” And the photo of Aubrey throwing his head back and laughing while Raleigh stared down at him with absolute adoration was the picture that made their families emailed to them at an ungodly hour of the morning the next day accompanied by a furious email from Harry Benton-Sterling.

Still worth it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first, if you're considering the new Superman movie, go for Lex Luther alone. Straight up. He's the only reason worth suffering through two and a half hours of plot-what-plot? motivation-what-motivation?
> 
> Secondly, this is finished. Thank you all so much for reading. It's been so much fun.
> 
> And I am now going to try and nap before I have to get up and go to their airport in two and a half hours. I'm off to Lisbon from whence I will return and continue procrastinating on my projects.
> 
> Happy late Easter!


End file.
